The state of bilateral relations between the US and Pakistan which used to be one of the most faithful allies of Washington, remains in a rather sorry state after US President Donald Trump’s insulting New Year’s tweet which left Islamabad thoroughly outraged. Specifically, Trump chose to make his first post in 2018 about Pakistan, noting that: The …
US President Donald Trump named China as a major US competitor on both economic and military fronts in his first state-of-the-union address, another sign that Washington is putting great power rivalry at the heart of its national strategy. Analysts said Trump’s explicit references to China contrasted with Beijing’s view of the Sino-US relationship and those …
Continue reading Donald Trump Brands China a Military Rival in US Reboot of Great Power Strategy
Turkish forces along with their FSA proxies have successfully captured the strategically important town of Bulbul in Kurdish occupied northern Syria. It is thought that all of Afrin might soon be under Turkish control as YPG/PKK fighters have been exposed as inadequate when faced with forces backed by a full modern army and air force. While …
Continue reading Syria Calls America’s Bluff on the Turkey / YPG Conflict
In just a month the Syrian army has inflicted a huge defeat on the rebels. As soon as ISIS was finally defeat in eastern Syria in late 2017 the army wheeled back to the west and launched its biggest and perhaps most spectacular offensive against the rebels yes. Even as Putin in mid-December was announcing …
“Betrayal” implies that there must have been sincere trust in the relationship, which was never the case with any of the Kurds’ extra-regional Great Power partners, nor will there ever be because of pure Neo-Realist considerations that even they themselves should surely be aware of by now. Every so often one stumbles upon a statement …
The consequences of the contradictory choices of the United States in Syria are beginning to become apparent. The obsessive efforts to advance geopolitical goals with war, chaos, betrayals and shaky alliances has brought us to the recent events in Northern Syria on the border with Turkey in the Kurdish enclave of Afrin. The overall picture of alliances …
Continue reading Why America’s Bad Choices Can Lead to a Shooting War with Turkey in Syria
The present arrives out of a past that we are too quick to forget, misremember, or enshroud in myth. Yet like it or not, the present is the product of past choices. Different decisions back then might have yielded very different outcomes in the here-and-now. Donald Trump ascended to the presidency as a consequence of …
The Tax Justice Network produces a Financial Secrecy Index, ranking countries for the assistance their legal systems provide, to money-launderers, and to all people who seek to protect corruptly-obtained wealth. The higher the score, the more corrupt the government is. The last time this Index was published, in 2015, Switzerland was rated the world’s most-corrupt …
Continue reading Is It Really True That Switzerland is the #1 Most-Corrupt Nation, & U.S. #2?
George Orwell’s 1984 featured a dystopian England, and indeed, a world, of three superstates that all ran according to the same principles. Eternal war, eternal ignorance, and eternal subservience, whether realized or not. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU was this book’s addition to the American lexicon for many, many people. The means of surveillance were …
Continue reading The Surveillance Society Is Here, and What You Can Do to Protect Yourself
