Breaking Articles
By Michael Hudson and posted with special permission. In a Financial Times op-ed, “Investors in Xi’s China face a rude awakening” (August 30, 2021), George Soros writes that Xi’s “crackdown on private enterprise shows he does not understand the market economy. … Xi Jinping, China’s leader, has collided with economic reality. His crackdown on private enterprise has been a significant drag on the economy.” Translated out of Orwellian Doublethink, the
By Andrei for the Saker Blog. The current mass hysteria about what just happened in Kabul and the rest of Afghanistan is not dying down. Why is that so? I believe that what is happening is this: if we compare the people of the USA to the passengers on the Titanic, we could say that our passengers were listening to the still playing orchestra until their feet got soaked in
by Pepe Escobar for The Saker Blog and friends Dear reader: this is very special, a trip down memory lane like no other: back to prehistoric times – the pre-9/11, pre-YouTube, pre-social network world. Welcome to Taliban Afghanistan – Talibanistan – in the Year 2000. This is when photographer Jason Florio and myself slowly crossed it overland from east to west, from the Pakistani border at Torkham to the Iranian
Dear friends, For various reasons, I plan to make the new Saker blog more similar to the very old Saker blog (2007-2012). None of the planned adjustments below will dramatically change anything, so please think of is as a kind of mid-life minor maintenance overhaul. What follows is a summary of these changes: The biggest change will be not in what I write, but how I present things to you.
By Peter Koenig for The Saker Blog All flags are on half-mast in the US of A. The cause are the 13 American soldiers killed in this huge suicide bombing outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, on Thursday, 26 August. As it stands, at least 150 people – Afghans, including at least 30 Taliban – plus 13 American military – were killed and at least 1,300 injured, according to
By Observer R for the Saker Blog In my previous article, A Poisoned Chalice? (The Saker Blog, December 15, 2020), I noted that there were so many crises and troubles ahead for the United States (US) that it was questionable as to whether it was a good idea to be the winner of the 2020 election. Whichever candidate took office in January 2021 would inherit a vast slate of problems.
Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations Mr.President, The Russian Federation strongly condemns the terrorist attack that was carried out in the vicinity of the Kabul airport on 26 August killing hundreds of people. We express our condolences to the friends and families of those killed and wish speedy recovery to the injured. At the same time, we had to abstain during the vote on the draft
Since I wrote my overview about the causes and implication of the Kabul disaster things have not improved in the least. It is clear that the “Biden” administration has tried very hard to do some damage control, but that only made things even worse (just think of Biden’s talks to the nation). It is also clear that there is no way the US can evacuate all its citizens, nevermind former
By Aram Mirzaei for the Saker blog These past weeks in Afghanistan have been what some would call a shit storm, in lack of better words. What is unfolding in front of our eyes is truly both a tragedy of great proportions and a spectacle of some sort I guess. After 20 years of occupation, Washington and its obedient dogs are not just retreating, they are fleeing in panic from
by Pepe Escobar and first posted at AsiaTimes It was 20 years ago today. Asia Times published Get Osama! Now! Or Else…The rest is history. Retrospectively, this sounds like news from another galaxy. Before Planet 9/11. Before GWOT (Global War on Terror). Before the Forever Wars. Before the social network era. Before the Russia-China strategic partnership. Before the Dronification of State Violence. Before techno-feudalism. Allow me to get a little
Dear friends, I have LOTS of news for you, all of them good. I am writing a detailed open letter to you, the readers, to inform you of the coming changes to how this blog operates and spelling out things which in the past I only alluded to or rarely mentioned. But I am also still tired, but off my antibiotics and better rested. Please give me a day or
The Kabul Airport bombing shows there are shadowy forces in Afghanistan, willing to disrupt a peaceful transition after US troops leave. But what about US intel’s own ‘shadow army,’ amassed over two decades of occupation? Who are they, and what is their agenda? by Pepe Escobar with permission and special and first posting for the new website The Cradle. So we have the CIA Director William Burns deploying in
Afghanistan is where the eyes of the world are. In my view, and according to the Chinese media and commentary, China is the inheritor of Afghanistan in terms of possible rebuilding of the country (finance, economy, industry, and trade) and also to ensure that a terrorist problem does not threaten across the border with China. The jury is out in terms of the trajectory here. China though has its embassy
ISIS-Khorasan aims to prove to Afghans and to the outside world that the Taliban cannot secure the capital By Pepe Escobar posted with permission and first posted at Asia Times The horrific Kabul suicide bombing introduces an extra vector in an already incandescent situation: It aims to prove, to Afghans and to the outside world, that the nascent Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is incapable of securing the capital. As it
[This analysis was written for the Unz Review] In October of last year I wrote a column entitled “When Exactly Did The AngloZionist Empire Collapse” in which I presented my thesis that the Empire died on 8 January 2020 when the Iranians attacked US bases with missiles and the US did absolutely nothing. Yes, this was the correct decision, but also one which, at least to me, marked the death
Original link: http://middleeastobserver.net/if-israel-harms-iran-fuel-ship-to-lebanon-quds-liberation-war-to-begin-qandil/ Description: Senior Lebanese political analyst Nasser Qandil warns Israel of ‘the war that will dismantle Israel’ if Tel Aviv obstructs or attacks an Iranian tanker currently on its way to supply Lebanon with critical fuel supplies. The unprecedented and daring move to ship fuel from Iran directly to Hezbollah was announced days ago by the Lebanese movement’s Secretary General, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Source: Al-Manar TV via Kalam Siyasi (YouTube) Date: August 20,
https://www.mid.ru/en/main_en We have taken note of an event that was held in Kiev on August 23 and was entitled a “Crimea Platform Summit.” The stated aim of this political project, developed with active involvement of government experts from the United States, the UK and the European Union and funded by the United States Agency for International Development, is “the de-occupation of Crimea and its reintegration with Ukraine.” The participants involved
from Middle East Observer Description: In a recent TV interview, Lebanese MP Cesar Maalouf broke ranks with his pro-American party by thanking Iran for much-needed fuel shipments that Tehran was sending to Lebanon, a groundbreaking move announced by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in a recent speech on the occasion of Ashura. Cesar Maalouf is an MP for the Lebanese Forces, a party that maintains a staunchly pro-US and anti-Iran/Hezbollah
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Adopted and opened for joining on August 23, 2021, Kyiv, Ukraine The Participants in the International Crimea Platform, being guided by the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Paris Charter for a New Europe, as well as rules and principles of international law, including international human
Whoever bought Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and other US defense stocks made a literal killing By Pepe Escobar, posted with permission and first posted at Asia Times After 20 years and a staggering US$2.23 trillion spent in a “forever war” persistently spun as promoting democracy and benefiting the “Afghan people,” it’s legitimate to ask what the Empire of Chaos has to show for it. The numbers are dire. Afghanistan
