UNGA 2020: Trump vs. Putin & Xi

UNGA 2020: Trump vs. Putin & Xi

The speeches given by Presidents Trump, Putin, and Xi via video during the 2020 UN General Assembly predictably revealed that the American leader’s assessment of the contemporary international situation and related vision of the future markedly differ from his Russian and Chinese counterparts’. UNGA 2020 The functions of the 2020 UN General Assembly are being…

Is Trump Using the JCPOA to Break the UN Before it Breaks Him?

Is Trump Using the JCPOA to Break the UN Before it Breaks Him?

A few weeks ago I wrote a piece wondering if there was a deeper meaning behind the Trump administration’s bizarre maneuvers in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) over snapback sanctions on Iran. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the resumption of these sanctions by the U.S. and demands that all the signatories to the…

Pompeo Threatens to Light the Fuse in Persian Gulf

Pompeo Threatens to Light the Fuse in Persian Gulf

The US Fifth Fleet announced on September 18 that a Carrier Strike Group comprising USS Nimitz passed through the Strait of Hormuz with the guided-missile cruisers USS Princeton and USS Philippine Sea and guided-missile destroyer USS Sterett. After a gap of some ten months, a US aircraft carrier is being deployed to the Persian Gulf. …

The United States and China in Oceania: the Showdown Is Heating Up

The United States and China in Oceania: the Showdown Is Heating Up

During the modern stage in the geopolitical rivalry among world powers to gain influence in the Asia-Pacific, where it shows up most vividly is in the southern part of the Pacific Ocean: Australia, China, the United States, and Japan are all trying hard to become chummy with the countries in Oceania, but each of those…

Belarusian Sanctions Vetoed by Cyprus Exposes Deep Divisions Between Mediterranean and Northern Europe

Belarusian Sanctions Vetoed by Cyprus Exposes Deep Divisions Between Mediterranean and Northern Europe

On September 21, there was a meeting between all of the EU’s Foreign Ministers to pass sanctions against Belarus. It created massive controversy and revealed the significant divide between Mediterranean and Northern Europe. The EU has been completely disinterested in Turkey’s blatant violations against the maritime space and continental shelf of Cyprus, ones of its…

In Refusing to Extend New START, the US Puts the World on the Path of Collective Suicide

In Refusing to Extend New START, the US Puts the World on the Path of Collective Suicide

Statements by the US chief arms control envoy make it clear the US is committed to a nuclear arms race free of the encumbrance of the New START treaty. However, it’s a race the US cannot win, and the world will not survive. In a fable attributed to the Ancient Greek fabulist and storyteller Aesop,…