Russia-China-Iran alliance is taking Afghanistan’s bull by the horns By Pepe Escobar with permission and first posted at Asia Times Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is on a Central Asian loop all through the week. He’s visiting Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The last two are full members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, founded 20 years ago. The SCO heavyweights are of course China and Russia. They are joined by
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181 July 12, 2021 During the recent Direct Line, when I was asked about Russian-Ukrainian relations, I said that Russians and Ukrainians were one people – a single whole. These words were not driven by some short-term considerations or prompted by the current political context. It is what I have said on numerous occasions and what I firmly believe. I therefore feel it necessary to explain my position in detail and share my assessments of today’s situation. First of all, I would like to emphasize that the wall that has emerged in recent years between Russia
By Chris Faure for The Saker Blog Waves of extreme violent anarchistic protest broke out and is ongoing in the two provinces Gauteng and KwaZulu Natal. Shopping malls and property are being set alight and burned down, looters rule the streets, roads are blockaded, cars and trucks are turned over and burned and in some scenes, one can clearly hear the bullets fly. At the last count around 200 major
by Batko Milacic – Independent analyst – for The Saker Blog After Yugoslavia’s (Serbia) President Slobodan Milosevic refused to accept the so-called Rambouillet Agreement in 1999, which in reality was NATO ultimatum that demanded from Serbia and Montenegro to allow NATO troops to occupy the province of Kosovo as well as that NATO can build bases in Serbia, and that all NATO personnel have diplomatic immunity, which means that they
2021/07/12 20:30:01Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of the issues of the day. The ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’ will have two new open threads each week. The Saker stated moderation policy will apply eg ‘no caps’, no obscenity … etc to all post. The Cafe is now open for
http://middleeastobserver.net/were-integrating-entire-resistance-axis-to-protect-al-quds-from-israel-nasrallah/ Description: Hezbollah’s leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah speaks about his front’s tireless efforts today to integrate the entire ‘Axis of Resistance’ such that it be prepared to collectively enter a regional war with Israel if Tel Aviv ‘threatens al-Quds’. The ‘Resistance Axis’ broadly refers to a strategic anti-Israel/anti-US imperialist alliance composed of, but not limited to, Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, Iraq’s Hashed al-Shaabi, Yemen’s Ansarullah, and various Palestinian armed factions. Source: Spot
Radhika Desai, Michael Hudson at the Valdai Club. Understanding of the dollar’s world role is dominated by the ideas of ‘dollar hegemony’ and ‘US hegemony’. In this paper, based on our extensive past work, we reveal how these ideas are ideologies, not theories. In their place, we reveal an understanding one that is theoretically sound and accords with the historical record, a geopolitical economy of the international monetary system of
Deploying diplomatic skills refined from Doha to Moscow, the Taliban in 2021 has little to do with its 2001 incarnation by Pepe Escobar with permission, and first posted at Asia Times A very important meeting took place in Moscow last week, virtually hush-hush. Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Russian Security Council, received Hamdullah Mohib, Afghanistan’s national security adviser. There were no substantial leaks. A bland statement pointed to the obvious:
by Batko Milacic for The Saker Blog Free speech has long been a cornerstone of Western society. However, within the past few years the situation has completely changed. Recently, one of the Western`s oldest public figures – the legendary leader of the Western Civil Liberties Union Ira Glasser, who for many years fought against racism, violation of the rights of workers and employees, and government corruption, spoke about a discussion
A new page has been added to the site for the use of our commentators. It is entitled comment-dashboard and can be accessed by http://10.16.86.131/comment-dashboard or by clicking on ‘Dashboard’ next to the ‘Cafe’ link in middle menu. The ‘Dashboard’ allows 8 different views of our current comments. The page is updated every 5 minutes. Regards Herb (webmaster)
8 July 2021 19:30 – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation On July 8, Special Presidential Representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov held consultations with a delegation from the Taliban’s political office. The discussion focused on the situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the prospects for starting intra-Afghan talks. The Russian side voiced their concern over the mounting tensions in the northern regions of Afghanistan and
2021/07/09 09:00:01Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of the issues of the day. The ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’ will have two new open threads each week. The Saker stated moderation policy will apply eg ‘no caps’, no obscenity … etc to all post. The Cafe is now open for
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
