Imagine the Chinese leadership out of the public eye for nearly two weeks – virtually holed up, immersed in a secret debate. That is exactly what just happened at Beidaihe, the beach resort in eastern Hebei province. While there might be James Bond-ish conspiracy theories out there for this annual ritual, there are no doubts …
Continue reading Sun Tzu and the Art of Fighting a Trade War
China expressed an interest in joining the TAPI gas pipeline. Pakistan’s Daily Times reported that China would like to build a branch line through the neighboring country once the original project is completed, which would apparently be less costly than constructing another one directly from Turkmenistan. In the event that it comes into fruition, which …
Continue reading Russia Could Aid China’s TAPI Plans and “Zip” Together Eurasia
Getting into Afghanistan was easy. Working with the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, US special forces and CIA paramilitaries quickly overcame resistance leading to the fall of the capital Kabul. American Marines and Army units soon followed to finish the job. By the time I arrived in Kabul in late December 2001 both a US Embassy and …
A possible ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, is proving to be much more than an effort to end escalating violence that threatens to spark yet another Middle Eastern war. United Arab Emirates-backed Egyptian and United Nations efforts to mediate an agreement, with the two countries’ nemesis, Qatar, …
Continue reading Regional Players Manoeuvre to Reengineer the Israeli Palestinian Landscape
Central Asia has traditionally been regarded by Washington as “Russia’s soft underbelly”, since it’s a common belief within American think tanks that by establishing control over this region the US will be capable of subjecting the whole of Eurasia to its will, which means that American hegemony should remain uncontested. Even back in the Soviet …
Continue reading How Come Washington Became so Wrapped Up in Central Asia
Russiagate is an orchestration. It is the response of the military/security complex to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign statement that he intended to normalize relations with Russia. Trump recognized that the extreme Russiaphobia, which the hegemonic neoconservatives had whipped up since Vladimir Putin’s statement at the Munich Security Conference in 2007 that Russia was a sovereign …
Continue reading The Brennan-Rosenstein-Mueller–Comey-Presstitute Witch Hunt
Just like when the medieval executioners tortured their prisoners to scream out for "mercy", so today two former aides of US President Donald Trump are put being on the rack to extract a begging response. If they finger the president, then maybe mercy will be shown to the prisoners. Trump's former lawyer and his campaign …
“You either die a Hero, Or you live long enough to see yourself become the Villain. ” — The Dark Knight George Soros has made that transformation into the Villain. Not that he was ever the Hero, but he is in his mind. He is the embodiment of the idea floated by John Barth that …
Fructose, which literally means “fruit sugar,”* sounds so sweet and innocent. And indeed, when incorporated into the diet in moderate amounts in the form of fruit – always organic and raw, when possible – it’s about as pure and wholesome as as a nutrient can get. Not so for industrially processed fructose in isolate form, …
Continue reading Is Fructose as Addictive and Harmful as Alcohol?
