The sudden death of Pope John Paul I, exactly 40 years ago today, stunned the world. The ‘Smiling Pope’ had only served for 33 days. His demise and replacement by John Paul II marked an important turning point in the old Cold War. The year 1978, as I argued in a previous op-ed, was the…
By the end of his second term, President Ronald Reagan, who had called the Soviet Union an “evil empire,” was strolling through Red Square with Russians slapping him on the back. Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive. And how have we husbanded the fruits of our Cold War triumph? This month, China’s…
In January, it was announced the UK government would launch the National Security Communications Unit, a dedicated organization to counter the growth of ‘fake news’ with disinformation of its own. While hailed as a new initiative, weaponizing information for defensive and offensive purposes is familiar territory for Whitehall. Almost half a year after the proclamation, concrete…
Historically, Germany maintained excellent relations with the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the 20th century. Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was fascinated by Islam, pursued archeological excavations, notably in Baalbeck, and participated in the construction of the first railways, including the Damascus -Medina line. The Reich and the Sublime Porte stood together against the British…
Lavrov’s visit to Rwanda was an astounding success because he discussed future military deals (including over air-defense systems), nuclear energy prospects, and economic cooperation with his counterpart, but there’s more than meets the eye because some crucial context needs to be mentioned about what brought this unlikely pair of countries together in the first place….
A former French Prime Minister unveiled a detailed and very ambitious plan to form a Eurafrican Axis in the New Cold War as a means of “balancing” between East and West, but what he’s really calling for is a policy of ‘controlled’ ‘replacement migration’ coupled with refined neo-imperial political and economic models for making France…
