by Igor Pejic The Syrian crisis is slowly reaching its seventh year. Violence, radicalization, civil displacement, fragmentation and deterioration of the Syrian society are reaching unprecedented levels. International and regional actors, thus far, have largely failed in their attempts to reach a compromise or a sustainable solution in order to control the crisis and quell the radical groups which are running rampant across the region. Despite Russian, Turkey’s and Iranian
by Pepe Escobar The Trump era starts now – with geopolitics and geoeconomics set for a series of imminent, unpredictable cliffhangers. I have argued that Trump’s foreign policy guru Henry Kissinger’s strategy to deal with the formidable Eurasia integration trio – Russia, China and Iran – is a remixed Divide and Rule; seduce Russia away from its strategic partnership with China, while keep harassing the weakest link, Iran. In fact
by Peter Koenig A Financial genocide, if there was ever one. Death by demonetization, probably killing hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, through famine, disease, even desperation and suicide – because most of India’s money was declared invalid. The official weak reason for this purposefully manufactured human disaster is fighting counterfeiting. What a flagrant lie! The real cause is of course – you guessed it – an order
by Pepe Escobar for the Asia Times He did it, his way; Chinese President Xi Jinping descended on the Swiss Alps; profited from a geopolitical vacuum only three days before Donald Trump’s inauguration with the Atlanticist West mired in stagnation and/or protectionism; unleashed a charm offensive; and deftly positioned China in the lead of “inclusive” globalization. In a wide-ranging speech that went from global angst to China’s new normal, Xi
by Ramin Mazaheri It is with great regret that I have to leave Havana after 1 month of special-assignment reporting for Press TV in order to return to Paris. That may surprise a lot of people, but think of what type of work I am returning to: Stories about unabashed capitalism, chauvinistic neo-imperialism, anti-Muslim xenophobia and the upcoming presidential contest in which the only 2 serious contenders are a right-wing
by Pepe Escobar for the Asia Times So right in the heart of Bali, spellbound after a serious conversation with a dukun – a spiritual master – it struck me: this should be the new Yalta, the perfect setting for a Trump-Xi-Putin summit setting the parameters ahead in the ever-evolving New Great Game in Eurasia. Balinese culture makes no distinction between the secular and the supernatural – sekala and niskala.
by Peter Koenig Russian ‘Hacking’ and tilting the American elections in favor of Donald Trump’s is one of the most flagrant lies the White House has thrown around the world. Yet, Mr. Obama is desperate to make the American people and the word believe it did actually happen. As Goebbels, Hitler’s Propaganda Minister, said some 70 years ago, and many before and after him, “If you repeat a lie often
by Peter Koenig “Hacking” to influence election results? Ridiculous! That may have been a thing of the past. Or not even. It’s an evil invention of the evil losers of the evil Hillary camp, supported by a criminal departing President Obama, who will be leaving office, of course, not with a bang, not even with a whimper, but with a disgrace for his nation and for the truth loving people
by Alexander Mercouris for The Duran Whilst the Russian-Turkish ceasefire agreement offers the best route to peace in Syria, and in theory gives the Syrian army the space to rebuild and to take the war to Al-Qaeda and ISIS, its success ultimately depends too much on the commitment of Turkish President Erdogan to invest too much hope in its success. As my colleague Adam Garrie has previously reported, on 31st
by Peter Koenig Imagine, Mr. Manuel Santos, President of Colombia, Nobel Peace Laureate 2016, for achieving a Peace Agreement with the FARC “rebels” (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) – this same peace-loving Mr. Santos is inviting NATO to his country to help fight “organized crime”. As TeleSUR reports, this could jeopardize the recently signed (the ink is not yet dry) Peace Agreement between the
by Peter Koenig Random killing by the western secret services – 12 dead, about 40 injured, is the result of the latest false flag attack in Berlin, when on 19 December, a truck plowed into a Christmas market at Berlin’s Bretscheideplatz, near the lush Kurfuerstendamm. It’s a ‘déjà-vu’ of not even half a year ago, when in Nice, France, on 14th July a truck mowed down hordes of people celebrating
By Aram Mirzaei On December 8, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorist group launched a major offensive in a bid to recapture the ancient city of Palmyra, which was otherwise lost to the Syrian Army earlier in March this year. ISIL managed to not only muster between 4000-5000 fighters, but managed to travel across the eastern Homs desert unnoticed until they reached the gates of the ancient
by Ghassan Kadi In his recent article titled “Obama Out Not With a Bang, But a Whimper”, and in his regular eloquent and expressive style, Pepe Escobar nailed it. More need not be said about the Obama legacy, but this man, Obama, has had a personal effect on me, one that I cannot let go of without putting down on paper my own views of his infamous legacy. I am
by Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich A month has passed since Donald Trump was declared president-elect soon to be the 45th president of the United States. Since his win, pundits, analysts, and experts continue to debate the victory – a surprise to most. While the reason/s for this victory depend on one’s perspective, most agree on one thing: Trump is unpredictable. But is he really? There is clear indication that US foreign policy
by Jimmie Moglia The Italians said “no” in the recent referendum. Its main objective was to reform the Italian Constitution, strengthen the authority of the government and reduce the power of the electorate at large to influence political outcomes. Unskilled in political autopsies, I will not discuss details amply elucidated elsewhere, in the mainstream and alternative media. But ever prone to scour the useless in search for the irrelevant, I
by Ghassan Kadi Love or hate the Hippie era, it was definitely different, and it heralded the beginning of a new type of awakening in the West, and this time the awakening was not against the Western Church(es), but against the establishment. It is not by accident that this movement climaxed when the Vietnam War reached its zenith, and the more Johnson and later on Nixon intensified the US-led attack
by Pepe Escobar for Sputnik International Gen. James “Mad Dog” Mattis, chosen by President-elect Donald Trump to be the new head of the Pentagon, is a model functionary of the Empire of Chaos. His call sign is – what else – “chaos”. The Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC) even shared his regular accolade; “Saint Mattis of Quantico, Patron Saint of Chaos”. The Saint in his pop incarnation comes fully
Part II “Who are the Sunnis? A Lamentation” by Anwar Khan As I sit to answer this I am gripped by a state of unexpected indetermination as what I thought to be a painless task has become rather difficult. Painless because I can simply translate a passage from one of the hundreds of manuals on Sunni creed—where defining Sunnism is a run of a mill standard procedure. Additionally, the relative
by Ramin Mazaheri The world can say “So long Francois Hollande – we hardly knew ya”. Hollande, after all, was a purely national-level politician when he won office. His big gig had been heading the Socialist party for 11 years, until his ex-partner Segolene Royal lost to Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008. Hollande’s similarities with former US First Lady Hillary Clinton run even deeper than partnering with a president, (almost, in
Transcript (slightly expanded) of a Skype interview with Alex Knyazev – Russia TV24, Program ‘Geo-economics’ by Peter Koenig Since this interview was given, an important event happened, important for world history. Fidel Castro died on 25 November, at the age of 90 (1926 – 2016). Comandante Castro, a lawyer by education, with a true sense of justice for humanity, has led a Revolution in his native Cuba to free his
