By Jimmie Moglia for the Saker Blog There is a certain satisfaction, however idle, in finding the seeds and weak beginnings of social phenomena that affect the world at large. And in understanding the orientations and critical directions of the historical process we live in. Even if most of us remain helpless and impotent spectators of public calamities, or witness the vanity of conjecture and the inefficacy of predictions. For
8 July 202113:17 Joint Statement by the Representatives of Iran, Russia and Turkey on the 16th International Meeting on Syria in the Astana Format, Nur-Sultan, 7-8 July 2021 https://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/4809709 The representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Turkey as guarantors of the Astana format: Reaffirmed their strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic as well
Creditocracy: A Geopolitical Economy by Radhika Desai and Michael Hudson : reposted by special permission Introduction As President Biden continues his predecessor’s New Cold War on China, it is clear that the pandemic has vastly accelerated the on-gong shift in the international balance of power, away from the US and towards China. For former US Treasury Secretary, Lawrence Summers, it was likely a ‘hinge of history’: ‘[i]f the 21st century
Dear friend, Today I am starting a new kind of post – a short news update. This is not an open thread where everybody shares all the latest information during a crisis, nor is it a full analysis. In this new category, I plan to include several small news which are relevant to what was discussed in the past or factoids/developments which might be discussed in a full analysis in
By Pepe Escobar with permission and first posted at Asia Times And it’s all over For the unknown soldier It’s all over For the unknown soldier The Doors, The Unknown Soldier Let’s start with some stunning facts on the ground. The Taliban are on a roll. Earlier this week their P.R. arm was claiming they hold 218 Afghan districts out of 421 – capturing new ones every day. Tens of
Translated by Sasha and subtitled by Leo. The Russian Navy organized training exercises in the center of the Pacific Ocean for the first time in recent history. On June 21, our Pacific Fleet deployed up to 20 vessels and the same amount of aircraft for the training. By the way, take note of the maneuvers’ date, on the eve of the Memory and Mourning Day when our people remember all
[this column was written for the Unz Review] I have to admit that before I sat down to write this column I had some misgivings: I thought “not *another* article warning about a potential explosion in the Ukraine! Not again!”. And yet, events on the ground are what they are and ignoring them under the pretext that I am fed up “crying wolf” again and again is not a wise
Dear friends, Our little experiment with unmoderated comments is coming to an end. Yes, this was fun, but this is slowly becoming tedious, and many are already yearning for Monday. I understand them. Yesterday’s thread got almost as many comments as the initial one, and before the end of the day I expect the total number of comments will reach 1000 for the two threads (plus a few more in
Dear friends, I have to say that the reactions elicited by my posting my question yesterday far exceeded anything I had imagined. Sure, I expected exactly that, I very deliberately did even predict the nature/tone of many of these comments knowing that the hardcore COVID-dissidents either would not see it, or that they simply could not help themselves and would react exactly as I predicted. Still, the vociferous petulance of
By Pepe Escobar, exclusively for the Saker Blog He was like Blake’s tiger, always burning bright and chasing Rimbaud rainbows – just to finish, like Marat, in a bathtub. He was only 27. Jim Morrison died on July 3, 1971 in Paris. Half a century later, The Collected Works of Jim Morrison: Poetry, Journals, Transcripts, and Lyrics lavishly celebrates the soul of the poet. Before he died, Jim had self-published
Introductory note: I saw the aphorism above spray-painted by some unknown person on one of the walls of my high-school. Of course, it was written in French (“l’éclat des certitudes m’amène à tuer“). Only years later did I understand that it refers to the dangers of certitudes which we often elevate into dogmas and into a valid cause for both physical and spiritual fratricide (this is the sin we commit
The West’s ‘rules-based order’ invokes rulers’ authority; Russia-China say it’s time to return to law-based order By Pepe Escobar with permission and first posted at Asia Times We do live in extraordinary times. On the day of the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), President Xi Jinping, in Tiananmen square, amid all the pomp and circumstance, delivered a stark geopolitical message: The Chinese people will never allow foreign
By Peter Koenig with permission and written for China’s Chongyang Institute of the Renmin University in Beijing – for the 100 Anniversary – 1 July 2021 – of China’s Communist Party. The legendary Chinese success story goes hand-in-hand with the evolution of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and China’s Communist Revolution that began in 1945. The foundation of the CPC on 1 July 1921 signaled the end of some
Western exceptionalists may continue to throw a fit 24/7 ad infinitum: that will not change the course of history. By Pepe Escobar with permission and widely distributed The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) centennial takes place this week at the heart of an incandescent geopolitical equation. China, the emerging superpower, is back to the global prominence it enjoyed throughout centuries of recorded history, while the declining Hegemon is paralyzed by the
Source: http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/65973 Yekaterina Berezovskaya: Good afternoon. We are broadcasting Direct Line with Vladimir Putin. The moderators in this studio are Nailya Asker-zade… Nailya Asker-zade: …and Yekaterina Berezovskaya. Yekaterina Berezovskaya: Our colleagues, Tatyana Remezova and Natalya Yuryeva, are working with volunteers in the Message Processing Centre. Last year we combined two projects, the annual news conference and Direct Line. The format of today’s event is different. The focus is on direct
(Machine translation): Review the Ministry of defence to the statement of the military Department of the Netherlands about the alleged threat of action last Thursday, June 24, the Russian aircraft near the Dutch frigate “Evertsen” in the Black sea: “24 Jun 2021 by means of objective control of the black sea fleet is monitoring the actions of NATO ships in the Black sea was established, which was in international waters
[This analysis was written for the Unz Review] To begin, let’s recap what just happened in the Crimean waters. First, the HMS Defender deliberately entered the Russian waters under the pretext that the Brits don’t recognize what they call the “annexation” of Crimea. The Brits deny it, but after seeing 4 bombs explode ahead of the HMS Defender, they altered their course as the Russians demanded. Next, before looking into
by Pepe Escobar with permission and first posted at Asia Times Welcome to the latest NATO show: Sea Breeze starts today and goes all the way to July 23. The co-hosts are the US Sixth Fleet and the Ukrainian Navy. The main protagonist is Standing NATO Maritime Group 2. The show, in NATOspeak, is just an innocent display of “strenghtening deterrence and defense”. NATO spin tells us the exercise is
Original link: http://middleeastobserver.net/tv-report-on-muslim-brotherhoods-varying-stances-towards-israel/ Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNTA5guDzPU&t=23s Description: A TV report on the divergent political stances towards Israel of the Muslim Brotherhood’s various branches across the Arab and Islamic world. Source: Al Mayadeen TV (You Tube) Date: June 7, 2021 (Please help MEO keep producing independent translations for you by contributing a sustainable monthly amount https://www.patreon.com/MiddleEastObserver?fan_landing=true) Transcript: UAE’s foreign minister Abdullah Bin Zayed put the name of the Muslim Brotherhood next to (the names of) Hezbollah
