Today I am beginning a series of articles about what I believe is the extremely deep crisis taking place in Europe and about the potential of this crisis to result in some cataclysmic events. I will begin by taking a look at what has been going on in France, probably the country in Europe I know best, and also one which I think has be biggest potential to generate an
These are bad times for Barak Obama, and humiliations seems to fall upon him every day. Yesterday it what a double-whammy: first NBC and the WSJ announced that Obama’s approval rating were at a historical low and then Forbes announced that Obama’s most hated adversary, Vladimir Putin, had displaced him in the Forbes world’s most powerful person list and was now the most powerful person on the planet, followed by
I take refuge in Allah from the stoned devil. In the Name of Allah, The Compassionate, The Most Merciful. Peace be on the Seal of prophets, our Master and Prophet, Abi Al Qassem Mohammad and on his chaste and pure Household and on his chosen companions and on all messengers and prophets. Peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings. First, I welcome you all and thank this dear
(Originally written for the Asia Times) All signs are showing that the otherwise secretive Saudi regime is angry. Very, very angry. Not only did the KSA refuse to take a seat at the UNSC, but now the Saudi spy chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, appears to be threatening the USA with a “major shift” in “relations with the United States in protest at its perceived inaction over the Syria war and
Wow! This has been quite a week for me. It all began soon after I published my rather long analysis “1993-2013: is the twenty years long “pas de deux” of Russia and the USA coming to an end?” which I wrote last Friday and published on Saturday morning. The funny thing is that I had originally only intended to deal with the issue of “Putin and public opinion at home
The latest tensions between the EU and Russia over Greenpeace’s stunt in the Arctic only confirmed a fact which nobody really bothers denying anymore: Western political and financial elites absolutely hate Vladimir Putin and they are appalled at Russia’s behavior, both inside Russia and on the international scene. This tension was quite visible on the faces of Obama and Putin at the G8 summit in Lough Erne where both leaders
I am going to be gone for the next day (diving in some nice coral reefs!), but since at least one dimwit managed to accuse me of wanting to “destroy the planet with pollution” because of my post about the latest Greenpeace stunt I have decided to post this little reminder by Roger Waters, my absolute favorite composer and singer, about the world we live in: See you all on
In Europe the Russia-bashing campaigns come and go with the regularity reminiscent of times. Let’s try to recall some of them (in not particular order): Berezovsky as a “persecuted” businessman, Politkovskaya “murdered by KGB goons”, Khodorkovsky jailed for his love of liberty, the “Pussy Riot” “prisoners of conscience”, Litvinenko “murdered by Putin”, the homo-lobby’s call to boycott Russian vodka, the homo-lobby’s call to boycott the Sotchi Olympics, Magnitsky and the
I have carefully parsed UNSC Res 2118 and while I did not find any great surprises in its contents, I would qualify it as a half-full glass, meaning that while this resolution does not fix any of the issues which I had identified in the Kerry-Lavrov agreements (see here, here, here and here), it at least does not exacerbate them either and that, in itself, is definitely a plus. Why?Because
Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York Security Council requires Scheduled Destruction of Syria’s Chemical Weapons, Unanimously Adopting Resolution 2118 (2013) Deeply outraged by the use of chemical weapons on 21 August in a Damascus suburb, as concluded by a United Nations investigation team, the Security Council this evening endorsed the expeditious destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons programme, with inspections to begin by 1 October, and agreed
UPDATED WITH VIDEO(press on [cc] sign on the bottom right for English subtitles) I take refuge in Allah from the stoned devil. In the Name of Allah, The Compassionate, The Most Merciful. Peace be on the Seal of prophets, our Master and Prophet, Abi Al Qassem Mohammad and on his chaste and pure Household and on his chosen companions and on all messengers and prophets. Peace be upon you and
Great news from Syria today: eleven Islamist rebel groups in Syria have announced they do not recognise the authority of the main opposition alliance, the National Coalition, that is the formula chosen by the BBC. The BBC does not explain why the National Coalition is the “main” opposition alliance, but it does add that the “Istanbul-based Western-backed National Coalition was formed in November 2012 and is recognised by more than
I am continuing to track the movements of the Russian Navy ships not out of a sudden passion for naval warfare, but because I was taught many years ago already that surface fleet movements are the “body language” of big states (submarines are always covert). In this case, looking at what the Russian navy does tells us a lot about what it thinks is, or might, be happening. Today I
Warning: this is a 25min long speech followed by over two hours of questions and answers. Still, I would suggest that is is well worth watching because I believe that it really shows the kind of man Putin is and what really makes him “tick”. If you want to have a really good insight into what the “Eurasian sovereignists” stand for and the kind of international order they are trying
RT reports:The US is pushing Russia into approving a UN resolution that would allow for military intervention in Syria, in exchange for American support of Syria’s accession to OPCW, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.“Our American partners are starting to blackmail us: ‘If Russia does not support a resolution under Chapter 7, then we will withdraw our support for Syria’s entry into the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical
So far, this was only an unconfirmed rumor but now it has received an official confirmation: heavy missile cruiser Variag will join the Russian Navy task force in the Mediterranean where he will replace the Moskva. In other words, the Russians want to keep a heavy missile cruiser on station for the foreseeable future. The rotation of heavy amphibious assault ships is continuing (see here for context).The Saker Heavy missile
by Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich The long anticipated UN inspectors report confirmed the use of chemical weapons on August 21, 2013 in the Ghouta area of Damascus. The investigators report provided “clear and convincing evidence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent Sarin were used”. Warmongers were quick to pounce on the use of rockets as evidence that the Assad government was responsible. The Russian Foreign Minister Sergie Lavrov was quick to
