The New York Times, on September 11, 2013, accommodated Russian President Vladimir V. Putin’s desire “to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders” about “recent events surrounding Syria.” Putin’s op-ed in the Times appeared under the title: “A Plea for Caution From Russia.” In it, he warned that a military “strike by …
Continue reading On the Brink with Russia in Syria Again, 5 Years Later
Tensions between the U.S. and Russia are heating up in Syria. Russia is now accusing the U.S. of using phosphorus bombs, a claim the Pentagon has denied, while the U.S. is planning for potential conflict with Russia in Syria on the ground in Al-Tanf (a key U.S. outpost base). Russia’s military accused two U.S. F-15 fighter jets of …
Continue reading Tensions Continue Rising Between Russia and the U.S. in Syria
A scandalous article recently published in the London based Financial Times called “Pakistan rethinks its role in Xi’s Belt and Road plan“, insinuated that Pakistan is about to cancel important bilateral projects related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) under the new PTI led government of Imran Khan. The report was based on statements from …
A new House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee Report calls on the UK government to launch an inquiry into its 'non-intervention' in Syria. This is gaslighting on a massive scale, because there's been intervention aplenty. What do you understand by the term 'non-intervention'? Not intervening in something, I presume? It's clear that the Foreign Affairs …
Continue reading Beyond Orwellian: Myth of UK’s ‘Non-Intervention’ in Syria
![China's President Xi Jinping, second left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, second right, making bliny [Russian pancakes] as they visit the Far East Street exhibition on the sidelines of the 2018 Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Sept 11, 2018. Photo: Russian Presidential Press and Information Office handout / Anadolu Agency](https://astutenews.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/putin-xi-pancakes.jpg?w=900)
Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin were involved in a joint cooking venture. Pancakes with caviar (blin, in Russian), chased down with a shot of vodka. It just happened at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. Talk about a graphic (and edible) metaphor sealing the ever-evolving ‘Russia-China comprehensive strategic partnership’. For a few years now the Vladivostok …
Continue reading Greater Eurasia Coming Together in the Russian Far East
The military-political landscape in Europe and the Mediterranean is changing. NATO is not as unified as it once was, and Turkey’s membership has become more of a formality than a real thing. A pro-US group consisting of Great Britain, Poland, and the Baltic States has emerged as part of a North Atlantic Alliance that is …
From the offputting concrete edifice that confronts a visitor to Abu Dis, the significance of this West Bank town – past and present – is not immediately obvious. The eight metre-high grey slabs of Israel's separation wall silently attest to a divided land and a quarter of a century of failed attempts in the Middle …
Continue reading A New Capital? Palestinians say Abu Dis is No Substitute for East Jerusalem
Japan will probably remain one of the US’ “unsinkable aircraft carriers” for the foreseeable future, but its government has been making remarkable progress in its rapprochement with Russia in recent years, and the imposition of any serious tariffs by the Trump Administration might only accelerate this dimension of Tokyo’s “Eurasian Pivot”. The Russian-Japanese Rapprochement Many …
Continue reading Trump’s Tariffs Might Jumpstart Japan’s “Eurasian Pivot”
It seems this year’s annual strategic command-staff exercise has been replaced by Strategic Maneuvers, which depending on your perspective is actually a higher level of exercise in the TVD (theater of military operations). Rather than having a OSK take charge of combat operations in a specific strategic direction, supported by units from other military districts, …
Continue reading Vostok 2018 Strategic Maneuvers: Exercise Plan
