When we first met in 2017, the Turkish poet, Mustafa Goren, stood proudly and defiantly next to a monstrous concrete wall built on orders from Ankara. The partition has just recently separated two towns with the same culture: Turkish Karkamis and Syrian Jarabulus. The poet then read some of his verses, and my friend, a …
Continue reading Turkish-Syrian Border: Confusion, Destruction and Grief
Providing foreign language lessons pro bono should always be applauded, but what China’s doing in Mozambique is controversial because it wants the host nation’s tax authorities to take the initiative in improving their relationship with its companies instead of it being the other way around with Chinese business representatives learning Portuguese in order to facilitate …
Continue reading Teaching Mandarin in Mozambique Is Good, Unless It’s for Tax Collectors
Iran’s Indian-back port of Chabahar, inaugurated months before the United States re-imposed sanctions on the Islamic republic, is where Asia and the Middle East’s multiple political conflicts and commercial rivalries collide. Chabahar was destined to become a player in geopolitical and economic manoeuvring between China, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and …
Continue reading Iran’s Chabahar Port Is Where Asian and Middle Eastern Rivalries Collide
At least it is clear; it’s explicit. The “We’re America, Bitch” formulation by an American official strips away the humbug of soft power. It’s not about ‘democracy’ or ‘freedom’: the global universal order never was. And, President Trump, to his credit, makes no bones about it: Why apologise over American power? It’s use it, or lose it …
Continue reading As Trump ‘Goes Nuclear’ Against Iran and China, What’s Next?
More than nine years ago, Israel invaded Gaza under “Operation Cast Lead”. The following article was first published by Global Research in January 2009 at the height of the Israeli bombing and invasion under Operation Cast Lead. In the wake of the invasion, Palestinian gas fields were de facto confiscated by Israel in derogation of …
Continue reading War and Natural Gas: The Israeli Invasion and Gaza’s Offshore Gas Fields
Trump suggested on Twitter that illegal immigrants should be immediately deported upon capture. According to the President, “When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came”, which is being framed as a “hardline” approach to border security despite it being the most sensible from …
Continue reading Trump’s Deportation Suggestion Will Fix America’s Dysfunctional Migration System
Think of it as the all-American version of the human comedy: a great power that eternally knows what the world needs and offers copious advice with a tone deafness that would be humorous, if it weren’t so grim. If you look, you can find examples of this just about anywhere. Here, for instance, is a …
The only new part of the ongoing Trump Administration economic warfare, a calculated assault on friend and foe alike from Russia to China to Iran to Venezuela and the EU, via so-called tariff war, is a President who uses Tweets as a weapon to throw opponents off balance. Since at least the beginning of the …
Continue reading Only Thing New About Trump Economic Wars Are Tweets
I was just interviewed by two Temple journalism students, Amelia Burns and Erin Moran, and though they appeared very bright and enterprising, with Erin already landing a job that pays all her bills, I feel for these young ladies, for this is a horrible time to make and sell words, of any kind, and the …
