During the reign of the Emperor Justinian I (527-565 AD), a mysterious plague spread out of the Nile Valley to Constantinople and finished off the Roman Empire. Appearing first in China and North India, the “Black Death” (Yersinia pestis) radiated throughout the Mediterranean and into Northern Europe. It may well have killed close to half…
Pipeline politics, like electoral politics, knows no limits. With Nordstream 2’s completion on schedule to happen around the same time Donald Trump will ‘appear to be re-elected,‘ the amping up of anti-Russian rhetoric and political pressure was to be expected. The poisoning of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s supposed chief critic, Alexei Navalny, is the latest…
President Donald Trump is cock-a-hoop over the United Arab Emirates becoming the first Arab Gulf state to normalise its relations with Israel. He needs all the good news he can get in the months before the US presidential election. “HUGE breakthrough today! Historic Peace Agreement between our two GREAT friends, Israel and the United Arab…
The United States has always regarded itself as the “exceptional “nation. That view may in many circumstances be relatively benign. It becomes less so when it is used as a justification for treating other countries as being less significant in the overall order of things. It is even less justifiable when that exceptionalism is taken…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for a summit of the five permanent members of the UN security council to discuss lowering international tensions and avoidance of conflict. It’s certainly a good idea and one that is timely and pertinent given the heightened concerns about deteriorating relations between three members of the council: the US…
The carnage for following President Trump’s lead on ending the JCPOA continues for India. From SputnikNews last week comes this note about the Farzad-B oil and gas field and Iran. Close on the heels of breaking the Chabahar-Zahedan rail project agreement, Iran appears set to deny India’s state-run ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL), exploration and production rights for the…
