A tweet roared like announcing a blockbuster premiere and sanctions did engulf Iran on time – despite opposition from Russia, China and the EU-3 (France, Germany and the United Kingdom), who still support the United-Nations endorsed Iran nuclear treaty. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has called this an economic war waged by a “bullying power”. The …
Continue reading Pakistan in the Middle of Saudi, Iran and Rival Pipeline Plans
Russia dispatched financial advisors to Venezuela upon Caracas’ request. The Russian team landed in the country’s capital a day after a Chinese delegation, making some wonder whether the two Great Powers are coordinating their efforts to save their shared Latin American partner’s economy. Both countries have an interest in ensuring the success of President Maduro’s …
Continue reading Russia Financial Advisory Assistance to Venezuela Is “Regime Reinforcement”
The Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, an authority completely outside Ukraine, on Oct. 11 stripped away the canonical authority of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church—Moscow Patriarchate (MP), sparking a crisis with Russia. The 1030-year old church is headed by Patriarch Kirill in Russia and the Russian church responded by severing ties to the Istanbul …
Trump and over 60 other world leaders will be in Paris over the weekend to attend an event commemorating the end of World War I a century ago, during which time the American leader is expected to have important sideline discussions with his Russian and Turkish counterparts. The occasion comes at a convenient time given …
Continue reading Trump Goes to Paris: Will He Make Peace with Putin & Erdogan?
Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela are today threatened by US imperialism. The first salvo of the modern Age of Imperialism started back in 1898 when the US seized Cuba along with Puerto Rico and the Philippines in the Spanish-American War. The Age of Imperialism, as Lenin observed, is characterized by the competition of the various imperial …
Continue reading The Troika of Tyranny: The Imperialist Project in Latin America and Its Epigones
The victory of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil’s presidential election last week has won Israel a passionate new friend on the international stage. The world’s fifth-most populous nation will now be “coloured in blue and white”, an Israeli official said, referring to the colours of Israel’s flag. The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately called to …
Continue reading With Brazil’s Bolsonaro, Israel Finds Another Natural Partner on the Far-right
It stinks, it is the most polluted city on earth, but that is not the most terrible thing about it. You can drive for ten or even twenty kilometers through it, and see only ugliness, fences and broken pavements. But there are many miserable cities on this planet, and I have worked in almost all …
Continue reading Filming in the Most Depressing City on Earth – Jakarta
One imagines… from outside of America at least…that the political system there, robust one year, retro the next, is on its way to drowning in a sea of vitriolic comeuppance. Half the population think Donald Trump is a buffoon while the other half think the Donald is o.k. But what we overlook is the fact …
A hundred fifty years ago, at least some Americans recognized that all serious discourse depended on the use of the faculty called Reason. Formal debate, science, and law all flowed from that source. A common bond existed in some schools of the day. The student was expected to learn how Reason operates, and for that …
Continue reading The State Weaponizes Education to Create Ignorance
