Despite being a far-flung and underdeveloped region, the Russian Far East might turn out to be the country’s most promising one if several visionary connectivity proposals are implemented. Russia has been prioritizing the development of its far-flung and long-neglected Far Eastern region for the past three years now ever since it commenced the now-annual Eastern …
Continue reading The Russian Far East Is the Next Frontier for Multipolarity
![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
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”
Just last week, the world's leading snooping powers quietly and without notice issued a disturbing warning to tech giants, telling them to surrender unprecedented backdoor access to their citizens' data. Not many people know this, but the United Kingdom has some of the most extreme spying powers in the developed world. At the end of …
The bizarre and escalating “trade war” being waged by Washington against the Chinese is not at all about balance of trade surpluses. The Chinese have apparently recently concluded this as well. It is about an all-out assault on China’s strategy to become an advanced, self-reliant economic leading economy, technologically on a par with the West, …
Continue reading The Real Stakes of the USA China Trade Wars
“Ahab is forever Ahab, man. This whole act’s immutably decreed. ‘Twas rehearsed by thee and me billion years before this ocean rolled. Fool! I am the Fates’ lieutenant; I act under orders.” – Herman Melville, “The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid ‘dens of crime’ that Dickens loved to paint…But it is …
Continue reading The Satanic Nature of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Three of the top worldwide trends that will continue to influence International Relations across the next decade are the threat of Hybrid War Balkanization, the ongoing struggle between Trumpism vs. Globalism, and the prospects of a Renaissance 2.0, with the most likely vision of the future being a blend of these prevailing tendencies. Strategic forecasting …
Continue reading Top Trends: Hybrid War Balkanization, Trumpism vs. Globalism, Renaissance 2.0
We have already commented on the large number of significant events in the first half of July – events which clearly demonstrated the special nature of the radical changes that the post-Cold War world order has undergone in the last few months. The end of July has brought several equally important events, including the BRICS and …
Continue reading July was Mark by a Number of Important Events in World Politics
The most spectacular episode of Harry Truman's presidency will never be forgotten but will be forever linked to his name: the atomic bombings of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and of Nagasaki three days later. Probably around two hundred thousand persons were killed in the attacks and through radiation poisoning; the vast majority were civilians, …
