China and Pakistan should clinch their own Logistics Exchange Memorandum Of Agreement (LEMOA) to use one another’s military facilities if India continues with its pro-American pivot, though Beijing and Islamabad should be careful about the timing of this potential decision so that it doesn’t precede and thenceforth inadvertently “justify” New Delhi’s resolute rejection of Eurasianism …
Continue reading It’s Almost Time for a Chinese-Pakistani LEMOA
To the utter despair of stoic defenders of “Western values,” Europe is now condemned to suffer two populist autocracies on its eastern borders: Putin’s Russia and Erdogan’s Turkey. For the EU’s political leaders, the only accepted narrative is blanket, hysterical condemnation of “illiberal democracies” distorted by personal rule, xenophobia and suppression of free speech. And …
Continue reading Turkey’s European Dream may be Over, Is the Sultan Ready for Eurasia?
The defeat of the Egyptian national football team by their Saudi Arabian counterparts in the 2018 World Cup can be viewed as a metaphor for the triumph of the Saudis over Egypt after an intense and sometimes deadly political rivalry played out during the rule of the charismatic and secular-orientated Egyptian president, Gamal Abdel Nasser. …
I thought that perhaps I had tuned into John Oliver or to Saturday Night Live in error, but no doubt about it, there was an unmistakable President Donald Trump speaking before an audience at the National Space Council. He was saying that on his own presidential authority “I’m hereby directing the Department of Defense and …
On June 19, the Senate passed a draft defense bill for FY 2019 that would halt the transfer of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft to Turkey, until the secretary of state certifies that Turkey will not accept deliveries of Russian S-400 Triumf air-defense systems. It paves the way for Ankara’s expulsion from the program if it does not …
Continue reading US Senate Bans Sale of F-35s to Turkey: Dealing with an Unreliable Partner
There are number of questions raised by the recent visit made by Kushner and Greenblatt to the Middle East, in particular their repeated and prolonged meetings with Israeli officials. Israeli sources have said that the visits focused on putting the final touches on the American peace plan, known as the ‘deal of the century’. Yet …
Continue reading What’s So Urgent About Kushner and Netanyahu’s Recent Meetings?
US and European media outlets reported anti-Chinese protests across Vietnam. Claims regarding numbers varied greatly from several hundred to others claiming several thousand. The Western media was particularly careful not to mention the names of any of the individuals or organisations leading the protests. The South China Morning Post in its article titled, “Anti-China protests: …
Continue reading What’s Really Behind Anti-China Protests in Vietnam?
“As long as in the heart, within, a Jewish soul is yearning…” thus starts the official translation of Israel’s national anthem. Actually, the Hebrew original says “the soul of a Jew”, but the translator probably got it right. It’s the Jewish Soul that was meant. But is there a Jewish Soul? Is it different from …
Amid the intense coverage of Russian cyber-maneuvering and North Korean missile threats, another kind of great-power rivalry has been playing out quietly in the Indian and Pacific oceans. The U.S. and Chinese navies have been repositioning warships and establishing naval bases as if they were so many pawns on a geopolitical chessboard. To some it …
Continue reading How China and the U.S. Are Spawning a New Great Power Naval Rivalry
