Analysis. "b" doesn't mention it, but all analysis needs to focus on the big picture, in which China is the only adversary that the US perceives as an actual threat to permanent US global hegemony. Russia is just a sideshow in this. Therefore, every analysis should ask what US policy and actions imply with respect to China. An obvious economic goal of the US is to be able to shut down the export of energy to China. This is an overarching aspect of what's up in the Middle East and...
Read More »Nicos Panayiotides — The geopolitics beyond the Skripal case
Good backgrounder. Short and to the point. Emphasizes how geopolitics and geostrategy are historically influenced and path-dependent.Asia TimesThe geopolitics beyond the Skripal case Nicos Panayiotides See also Surprisingly good for Newsweek and the US media in general. No scaremongering. Short. NewsweekChina Military Tells Russia 'We've Come to Support You' Against U.S. Tom O'Connor
Read More »The world just changed. “Putin did it.”
Sunday reading. LobeLogUnipolar Strategy in a Multipolar World Paul Pillar Une parole francheMissile-gate Gilbert Doctorow | European Coordinator of The American Committee for East West Accord Ltd.Russian and Eurasian PoliticsPutin’s ‘Missile Speech’: Butter, Guns, and Security Discourse Gordon M. Hahn, Expert Analyst at Corr Analytics, http://www.canalyt.com and a Senior Researcher at the Center for Terrorism and Intelligence Studies (CETIS), Akribis Group, www.cetisresearch.org....
Read More »Reuters — Turkey to U.S.– end support for Syrian Kurdish YPG or risk confrontation
Any push by Turkish forces toward Manbij, part of a Kurdish-held territory some 100 km (60 miles) east of Afrin, could threaten U.S. plans to stabilize northeast Syria and bring them into direct confrontation with U.S. troops deployed there.“Those who support the terrorist organization will become a target in this battle,” Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said.“The United States needs to review its solders and elements giving support to terrorists on the ground in such a way as to avoid a...
Read More »Vesti — Head Russian banker speaks out from Davos – “sanctions are a full-scale economic war”
The head of VTB Bank Andrei Kostin, who is currently in Davos at the Economic Forum, has spoken out in relation to the situation surrounding Western sanctions against Russia. "What we modestly call sanctions, in fact, is a full-scale economic war that aims to put tremendous pressure on our economy, to restrain its growth, to worsen the living conditions of our people, to worsen our economic development, and thus to influence the domestic political situation in our country, including the...
Read More »RUeconomics — Germans tell NATO that a war with Russia is “suicide” – they would know
The German Contra Magazin called on NATO to understand that a war against Russia is "suicide". Readers of the publication noted that Germany remembers this especially well....In NATO, there are forces that are convinced of the correctness of a "military solution" of confrontation with Russia. However, anyone who attacks the Russians "actually commits suicide" because of the strength of Russian weapons and Moscow's readiness to use them in case of a threat to its security. An author of...
Read More »Paul Grenier — Russia, America, and the Courage to Converse
Despite its claims to “open-ness,” liberalism in its late modern Western form becomes self-contained to the point of closure. Allied with such power constructs as the “liberal world order,” globalization (a word that came into common usage only after the fall of the Soviet Union) tends towards the homogenization of political space and the radical constriction of pluralism. Notice a trend toward closure? It's affected conventional economics in addition to politics. Plurism, the hallmark of...
Read More »Jay Tharappel — Iran: internal grievances, external agendas
US and Israel back another terrorist group (in addition to Al Qaeda and ISIS) when it is useful. Fort RussIran: internal grievances, external agendas Jay Tharappel | Guest Contributor See also Wikipedia People's Mujahedin of Iran (Mojahedin-e Khalq, acronyms MEK, MKO) See also The Guardian (23 Sep 2012)Five lessons from the de-listing of MEK as a terrorist group Glenn Greenwald What could go wrong with getting in bed a bit with the devil as long you don't worship him? Using...
Read More »Whitney Webb — Birth Of An Insurgency: The US-Israeli “Secret Deal” To Manipulate Protests In Iran
With the Trump and Netanyahu administrations now working in lockstep, U.S.-Israeli hostility towards Iran has now ripened into a plan to repeat what befell Syria over six years ago – the hijacking of minor protests and their transformation into the cover for a foreign-funded insurgency intent on toppling Iran’s elected government. Mint PressBirth Of An Insurgency: The US-Israeli “Secret Deal” To Manipulate Protests In Iran Whitney WebbSee alsoShort and important. Flores is a good analyst....
Read More »Official identification in China and the US
Different approaches to official ID.RTSocial network profile to become official ID in China Travel & LeisureDriver Licenses From Nine States Won’t Be Valid IDs for Domestic Flights in 2018
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