by A.B. Abrams for The Saker Blog Over a year ago I published the book Power and Primacy: The History of Western Intervention in the Asia-Pacific, which was an attempt to fill what I saw as a gap in scholarship on the subject. I found that while several scholars had covered individual cases of Western powers intervening in the region, from David Easter and Geoffrey B. Robinson’s works on the
by Pepe Escobar with permission by the author and first posted at Asia Times Let’s start with the story of an incredibly disappearing summit. Every August, the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) converges to the town of Beidaihe, a seaside resort some two hours away from Beijing, to discuss serious policies that then coalesce into key planning strategies to be approved at the CCP Central Committee plenary session
Two clicks to midnight[1] by Ken Leslie for The Saker Blog While I was absent from this esteemed blog focusing on other things, an extremely dangerous situation started to develop and I found myself reaching for the keyboard again. If some of my previous writings were a bit alarmist, the tone was motivated by a genuine angst before an unfeeling and unstoppable machine of conquest and destruction the likes of
By Ghassan Kadi for the Saker Blog The intriguing twists and turns following the catastrophic explosion at Beirut’s Sea Port have thus far had international repercussions, beginning with the visit of French President Marcon to Beirut just three days after the disaster; a visit that could hardly be classified as a visit of a foreign head of state to another country. Marcon did not go to Lebanon just to meet
by Naresh Jotwani for the Saker Blog Fair warning: This is an indictment of so-called ‘economists’ of the modern world, many of whom often behave like a pestilence in human form. As we all know, the original Greek word for ‘economics’ meant ‘managing the home’ or, almost equivalently, ‘the skill of managing the home’. ‘Economists’ today presume to advise countries — and sometimes even the world at large! — about
By Francis Lee for the Saker Blog For the benefit of Frau Merkel & Nordstream-2 No sovereignty = No democracy: If a State is subordinate to another State or group of states it is no longer sovereign. That is to say if it ceases to exercise control over its vital policies, economic, political, social and cultural. Moreover it follows that if it is not sovereign it cannot be democratic since
by Kakaouskia for the Saker Blog Greetings to the Saker community and readers. Summers tend to be warm in East Mediterranean and not just due to weather. This one is no exception with Greece and Turkey apparently determined to make a stand for what each perceives to be its waters and Exclusive Economic Zone. Before I delve into the existing situation, I feel that some background information is required: about
by Straight-Bat for the Saker Blog 1. Introduction There are some incidents in life which a person would continue to review time and again, knowing pretty well that, it would be just a futile exercise from which he/she won’t really draw serious lessons (those who believe in learning from past deeds/misdeeds seldom forget the proverbial statement of Marx: ‘History repeats itself first as tragedy then as farce’). Similarly there are
By Matthew Ehret for the Saker Blog It has recently come to light that the primary source of the Steele Dossier and Mueller Investigation is none other than Igor Danchenko- a veteran Brookings Institute employee from Ukraine who not only hadn’t been to Russia for decades but who admitted to the FBI in January 2017 that the entire Steele dossier was a fraud. For those who do not know, the
by Zamir Awan for the Saker Blog Currently, the biggest challenge faced by the world is Pandemic. Outbreak early this year has engulfed the whole world. Indeed, the COVID-19 is not too fatal, yet due to its highly contagious nature, it has impacted society adversely. It is a new virus, a lot of studies are going on, especially on its cure and vaccines. Yet, nothing is commercially available; all such
By Pepe Escobar – republished from Asia Times by permission of author As much as Covid-19 has been instrumentalized by the 0.001% to social engineer a Great Reset, the Beirut tragedy is already being instrumentalized by the usual suspects to keep Lebanon enslaved. Facing oh so timely color revolution-style “protests”, the current Lebanese government led by Prime Minister Diab has already resigned. Even before the port tragedy, Beirut had requested
by Francis Lee for the Saker Blog Victor Yanukovich was elected President of the Ukraine in 2010 narrowly defeating Yulia Timoshenko with 49% of votes cast to Timoshenko’s 45%. The Ukrainian Presidential term of office lasts for five years. Yanukovich’s Party, the Party of the Regions, together with its coalition partner the Communist Party of the Ukraine, also had a majority in the Ukrainian Parliament, with Mykola Azarov as Prime
By Aram Mirzaei for the Saker blog The proposed 25-year deal between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the People’s Republic of China, titled “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between I.R. Iran and P.R. China” has been heavily discussed recently. While not all details in the deal are clear, it has been described by Iranian and Chinese officials as specifying the roadmap of developing and deepening Tehran-Beijing ties in “Political”, “Executive Cooperation”,
by Ghassan Kadi for The Saker Blog Most of the current instability in the Levant and the whole Middle East is inadvertently and inadvertently a result of the obsession about Israel’s security; both from the Israeli as well as the American sides. That said, many of the region’s problems are deep-rooted and go back to times before Israel was created and before America had any influence. In the middle part
by Paul Schmutz Schaller for The Saker Blog At the end of the year 2019, I wrote: „From my point of view, 2019 was a very positive year and I am convinced that the same will be the case for 2020.“ Unfortunately, my expectations for 2020 have turned out to be too optimistic. There is however no reason to hang one’s head. The general outlook remains positive, a Western dominated
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog Eight months into the modern, digitised world’s first-ever global pandemic the results are in: Every government has failed miserably. Despite the vast differences between socialist-inspired nations and capitalist nations every single government in 2020 has forfeited the chance at the possibility of maybe perhaps having something like a little bit of a rightly-guided mandate of heaven. Our 2019 taxes must be refunded everywhere.
by Pepe Escobar : Republished from Asia Times by permission of author The narrative that the Beirut explosion was an exclusive consequence of negligence and corruption by the current Lebanese government is now set in stone, at least in the Atlanticist sphere. And yet, digging deeper, we find that negligence and corruption may have been fully exploited, via sabotage, to engineer it. Lebanon is prime John Le Carré territory. A
by Thorsten J. Pattberg for The Saker Blog NEW YORK – A media professional from China asks: “Why do the Western media always promote the same ‘China experts’ who preach China doom, over and over again?” The answer is quite simple: The game of ‘expert testimonials’ is rigged. ‘Expert testimonials’ is not a level playing field. Never was. It is no coincidence that you will always see the same China
by Phillyguy for The Saker Blog Summary The US emerged from WWII as the world’s leading military and economic power. US global hegemony is augmented by the ability of force projection virtually anywhere in the world and control of strategic waterways. The Arabian Peninsula and Horn of Africa occupy strategic locations in the Middle East/Africa and have been of significant interest to Global powers and resident countries for decades. In
by Ghassan Kadi for The Saker Blog I have mourned Beirut time and time again, but with all the cities I have lived in, Beirut will always be my favourite. After all, how can I ever forget its hustle and bustle before the infamous fifteen year long civil war that started on Sunday the 13th of April 1975? I was a student back then, with very limited financial resources, but
