Who is Calling the Shots in the Middle East These Days? It’s Not Trump

Who is Calling the Shots in the Middle East These Days? It’s Not Trump

Time was when a mere statement from a secretary of state – let alone a US president – would have the phones jangling across the Middle East. The Reagans, Clintons, Bushes or Obamas of this world actually did have an effect on the region, albeit often malign, US leaders being poorly briefed and always in awe…

The Initiative of Four Emerges in Manila

The Initiative of Four Emerges in Manila

Previously, we have mentioned that various international forums, which were initially associated with serious positive expectations, have today turned mainly into political vanity fairs. In assessing the peculiarities of the modern global game, these events are not of interest in and of themselves, but in the way the main players behave during these events: participants…

Bombing Afghanistan for Peace and Prosperity

Bombing Afghanistan for Peace and Prosperity

In May this year the Carnegie Endowment for Peace assessed that “The security environment in Afghanistan is still precarious… the government remains heavily dependent on foreign aid… the combination of a weakening Afghan regime and an unchecked Taliban resurgence could lead to the catastrophic collapse of the Afghan government and state…” It is essential that a policy…

Poland’s Patriot Missile Purchase Is a Paid Bribe to America

Poland’s Patriot Missile Purchase Is a Paid Bribe to America

Poland announced that it will purchase $10.5 billion worth of anti-air Patriot missiles from the US. Technically, the official news event is that the State Department approved the possible sale and that Congress has 30 days to block it, but for all intents and purposes it’s widely considered that the deal will go through as…

The Murder of Yugoslavia

The Murder of Yugoslavia

The conviction of former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) reminds us of a brutal conflict in which atrocities were committed by all contending parties, including the West with a NATO air assault of 78 days’ duration in which hundreds of civilians were killed. As nobel-prize…