by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with Strategic Culture Foundation – by special agreement with the author) The Trump administration is obsessively spinning the concept of a “free and open Indo-Pacific”. Apart from a small coterie of scholars, very few people around the world, especially across the Global South, know what that means since the then incipient strategy was first unveiled at the 2017 APEC forum in Vietnam. Now everything one needs
(Note: this post is not the advice of a qualified specialist, who knows all the details about immigration to Russia and the laws that govern this process. Both the process and the laws may change, and I might also be mistaken in describing some of the details, since I submitted documents for residency over a year and a half ago. I’m writing this post to give people a fairly realistic
Note from the Saker: when Michael Hudson sent me this interview transcript with my friend Bonnie Faulkner I immediately agreed to post it. Hudson is, in my opinion, the best and most interesting US economist, while Bonnie Faulkner is definitely one of the 2 or 3 best interviewers in the USA. Having them together is always a treat, so it is with great joy that I post this interview on
by Pepe Escobar : Posted with permission The graphic image of Turkey pivoting away from NATO towards the Russia-China strategic partnership was provided, in more ways than one, by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing right after the G20 in Osaka. Turkey is a key hub in the emerging New Silk Roads, or Belt and Road Initiative. Erdogan is a master at selling Turkey as
by Ollie Richardson for The Saker Blog During the near 8 months (at the time of writing) that the French Yellow Vests (Gilets Jaunes) have been demonstrating nationwide I have written two articles (part 1 is here, part 2 is here) based on my own primary research that aimed to offer an insight into what is actually going on, since the mainstream, neoliberal media is either deliberately boycotting the topic
by Aram Mirzaei for The Saker Blog On Sunday morning, the Islamic Republic cut its latest obligations to the JCPOA by enriching uranium to a higher purity than 3.67%, Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araqchi stated. He said that Iran would increase uranium enrichment to the level that fulfils the needs of its power plants. He also noted that the country had not yet decided on the level of
by Eric Zuesse for The Saker Blog Here are two visuals from the latest annual U.N. report about the world’s refugee situation, “UNHCR Global Trends 2018”, and though these images don’t pack the emotional punch of a child’s corpse that has just been washed upon a beach after drowning when his family had attempted to escape from a country that the U.S. and its allies were ‘trying to make free’ by
by Pepe Escobar : Posted with permission A thick veil of mystery surrounds the fire that broke out in a state of the art Russian submersible in the Barents Sea, leading to the death of 14 crew members poisoned by toxic fumes. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the submersible was conducting bathymetric measurements, as in examining and mapping deep sea conditions. The crew on board was composed of “unique naval
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog I am not at liberty to divulge my source, but since The New York Times has no problem mongering war based on anonymous sources, I have decided to release a leak I received: This is the unedited version of a recent column published by The New York Times which was written by a member of the ongoing anti-China protests in Hong Kong. The
by George Eliason for The Saker Blog What are Cyber Privateers and should you be afraid of them? Cyber privateers and cyber bounty hunters are criminals that are not covered under international law as government agents. In reality, this almost nullifies the chance for war to start over any particular hacking or compromised data event. The problems hired or volunteer contractors create include a projectable legal attribution. You don’t have
by Pepe Escobar : Posted with permission The most important trilateral at the G20 in Osaka was confined to a shoddy environment unworthy of Japan’s unrivaled aesthetic minimalism. Japan excels in perfect planning and execution. So it’s hard to take this setup as an unfortunate “accident.” At least the – unofficial – Russia-India-China summit at the sidelines of the G20 transcended the fate of an interior decorator deserving to commit
by Jimme Moglia for the Saker Blog Back from a trip to Europe, I sketch down a few notes and observations. They are personal, and the patient reader may object to some of my conclusions. But this is, of course, inherent to the general elusiveness of truth. Given the anecdotal nature of my observations, I describe the anecdotal causes that inspired the trip. Which relate to the night of the
By Ramin Mazaheri cross-posted by special agreement with Press-TV (Ramin Mazaheri is the chief correspondent in Paris for Press TV and has lived in France since 2009. He has been a daily newspaper reporter in the US, and has reported from Iran, Cuba, Egypt, Tunisia, South Korea and elsewhere. He is the author of “I’ll Ruin Everything You Are: Ending Western Propaganda on Red China”.) The Western world has an
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog The differences in handling the recent protests in Hong Kong and the weekly demonstrations in France illuminate an enormous democratic deficit between Western “liberal democratic” societies and non-Western “socialist democratic” ones. It has been amazing to see how quickly the Hong Kong government – which under the “one country, two systems” system largely means the Chinese government (Hong Kong is officially a part
by Dr. Warrick for The Saker Blog This is the middle of my 76th trip around the Solar System and a whole lot has happened since my 1st trip. The biggest must be the Nuclear Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. WWII and The Great Patriotic War ended shortly after and since then the USA has engaged in disastrous wars on the Eurasian Landmass and all of them were lost (more
by Ollie Richardson for The Saker Blog A lot of people are asking “what happens now?” in relation to the topic of Ukraine. Zelensky is now in power, Trump will most likely win a 2nd term, and the EU elections resulted in a win for EU-skeptics. I will try to provide an adequate yet relatively laconic answer. The purpose of this article is not to explain what Russia will specifically
It all started with the Vladimir Putin–Xi Jinping summit in Moscow on June 5. Far from a mere bilateral, this meeting upgraded the Eurasian integration process to another level. The Russian and Chinese presidents discussed everything from the progressive interconnection of the New Silk Roads with the Eurasia Economic Union, especially in and around Central Asia, to their concerted strategy for the Korean Peninsula. A particular theme stood out: They discussed
by Eric Zuesse for The Saker blog America is controlled only by its wealthiest, and they are solidly in control of both political Parties. However, now that they are in control, they are fighting bitterly amongst one-another. They are on two sides. Concerning foreign policies, and domestic policies, Republican Party billionaires hate especially Iran, and especially all progressivism. By contrast, concerning foreign policies, and domestic policies, Democratic Party billionaires hate
by Ramin Mazaheri for the Saker Blog (cross-posted by permission with Press TV) Jimmy Carter’s foolish and feckless opposition to the Iranian Islamic Revolution was perhaps the single-most important reason he was not re-elected in 1980. Nearly 40 years later, Donald Trump is on the brink of allowing Iran to decide yet another US presidential election. The Pahlavi dynasty was popularly overthrown in February 1979, just as monarchy was deposed
by Eric Zuesse for The Saker Blog On June 26th, U.S. President Donald Trump told Fox Business News that, as the Washington Post immediately headlined it, “War with Iran Would Not Involve Ground Troops and Would Not Last Long”. He said: “I’m not talking boots on the ground. … I’m just saying if something would happen, it wouldn’t last very long.” However, even if his planned surgical missile-strikes against Iran’s
