US government officials have begun to spell out the meaning of Trump’s threat to punish Pakistan if it does not suppress Afghan insurgents operating from its border regions. These punishments include not just cuts to aid and payments for services rendered in fighting the Aghan war, but also encouraging India, Pakistan’s arch-rival, to play a …
Continue reading US Threatens Pakistan as Part of New Afghan War Drive
Only days ago, I wrote an article addressing the growing tension in the country entitled “From Charlottesville To Boston, America Is Falling Apart At The Seams,” where I stated, “Once again, it looks like Trump has been routed by the Deep State. Expect more foreign policy aggression and more domestic oppression in the very near …
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that Israel is prepared to intervene in Syria to counteract the Iranian influence in the conflict. Moscow, which views Iran as key to resolving the crisis, said it will note Israeli interests. When the two leaders met in Sochi on Wednesday, Netanyahu told Putin that …
Continue reading Netanyahu to Putin: Iran Must Withdraw from Syria or Israel Will ‘Defend Itself’
A photo of Soviet era Afghanistan won Trump over. According to reports, Gen. H. R. McMaster convinced President Trump to give up his longstanding opposition to the Afghan war by showing him this photograph, below, of Afghan women in what the media are describing as “miniskirts.” As the Washington Post put it: “One of the …
Continue reading The Mini-Skirt Deception: How McMaster Got His Afghan ‘Surge’
Trump calls for escalation of the war in Afghanistan. Why? Is it part of the “Global War on Terrorism”, going after the bad guys, or is it something else? Unknown to the broader public, Afghanistan has significant oil, natural gas and strategic raw material resources, not to mention opium, a multibillion dollar industry which feeds …
Continue reading China vs US – Lithium and the Battle for Afghanistan’s Mineral Riches
Back on 16th February 2017, shortly after the forced resignation of President Trump’s first National Security Adviser General Flynn, I spoke of the extraordinary power that US Defense Secretary General Mattis appeared to be wielding within the Trump administration General Mattis is becoming a dominant figure within this administration. As a much decorated former combat …
Continue reading Goodbye ‘President’ Trump; Hail ‘President’ Mattis
For some time it has been clear that the White House of President Donald Trump was convulsed with a struggle among various court factions vying for the Emperor’s ear. Crudely oversimplified, these are variously described as: 1. The military «Junta» (Generals McMaster, National Security Council; Mattis, Pentagon; and Kelly, White House Chief of Staff; 2. …
Continue reading Trump’s New Strategy for Afghanistan is Neither New, Nor a Strategy, Nor Trump’s
It is tempting, and not entirely inaccurate, to dismiss the escalating crisis between Qatar and a number of its neighbors as a petulant princely playground spat. Extending this tempting logic, one could conclude that decisive victory by each of the protagonists would be the optimal outcome. Yet the dispute also reflects deeper dynamics in Arab …
Continue reading Abrupt Middle East Geopolitical Turnabout: The Qatar, Saudi Arabia and GCC Crisis
Wall Street, London, and the Bretton Woods institutions like the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund claim to support development and the eradication of poverty around the world. They also claim to support scientific progress and raising the global standard of living. However, often they seem to make friends and allies with very different …
Continue reading Wall Street Primitivism: Nicaragua, China, The Middle East & Charlottesville
