Dear Serbian friends, Since the crisis began in Serbia some of you have been enraged by the articles written for the Saker Blog by “Saker’s Johnny-on-the-spot in Belgrade”. Some of you have posted irate comments, often in direct violation of the moderation guidelines, while others sent me outraged emails. And yet, each time I offered my angry correspondents the right of reply (I told them I would post any original
Dear friends, As soon as I heard about the tragic explosion in Beirut I told my family “you will see, there will be some idiots who will say it was a nuke”. Sure enough, today I already see nonsense posted about the usual suspects about the Israelis nuking of Beirut. Some even claim this was a thermonuclear explosion! This just proves to me that I was right when I added
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
By Godfree Roberts from his newsletter This week’s selection from Godfree’s excellent China newsbrief includes the status of Dollar trade, Huawei, Technology and the much maligned (in the West) Social Credit system. Economy and Finance After years of talking about abandoning the US dollar, Russia and China are doing it for real. In the first quarter of 2020, the share of the dollar in trade between the countries fell below
This was just sent to me by a good Lebanese friend: Huge disaster, investigation underway, on face value was caused by utter negligence, corruption and incompetence of Lebanese state, but I am one of those that has been stressing that the enemies could have exploited this state negligence and corruption to trigger this disaster through sabotage. Few simple reasons for this, including: a) this disaster completely serves current US-Israeli efforts
by Mansoureh Tajik for the Saker Blog As part of a very thoughtful email last month, the Saker wrote, “In your latest contribution you wrote ‘Every day is Ashura, Every land is Karbala’ twice. Did you know that this is my absolute favorite Islamic saying? I also believe that this belief is the real core of the strength of the Resistance in Lebanon, especially Hezbollah.” He was referring to the
by Saker’s Johnny-on-the-spot in Belgrade for The Saker Blog Relentlessly, as if his life depended on it (as it well might) the Serbian tyrant Alexander Vučić is setting the stage for the final act of grand treason that he had obligated himself to commit in exchange for an appearance of power and an opportunity for graft and plunder. His regime is making final preparations for signing away the spiritual and
by Francis Lee for the Saker Blog It speaks volumes about the gravity of the current political and economic situation that the leading US investment bank Goldman-Sachs has seen fit to issue a sombre warning. ‘’Goldman Sachs Group Inc. put a spotlight on the suddenly growing concern over inflation in the U.S. by issuing a bold warning on Tuesday that the dollar is in danger of losing its status as
South Front Democracy and liberal values are on the rise in the opposition-held part of Syria’s Greater Idlib region. On July 31, forces of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) raided positions of the Syrian Army in the vicinity of the town of al-Ruwaihah in southern Idlib. Following the attack, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham also launched unguided rockets at army positions near the town of Maarat al-Numan. Pro-militant
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krZarOe__Ws&feature=youtu.be Description: In an interview with Afaq TV, Sa’ad al-Muttalibi, a senior member of the Iraqi State of Law Coalition says that Iraq’s prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi will fail on his imminent state visit to Washington, as US officials never treat Iraqi officials as equal counterparts and al-Kadhimi won’t be an exception. This is especially true as al-Kadhimi is tasked by the Iraqi parliament with pulling US military forces
2020/08/02 10:00:01Welcome 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
Dear friends As you might have heard, there is a hurricane coming very close to the Florida Atlantic coast: Hurricane Isaias The actual effects of the hurricane are hard to predict, since it depends on whether Isaias will turn to the right or to the left by just a few degrees. This is especially true since Isaias is slowing down to take the right hand turn, which makes it hard
http://middleeastobserver.net/lebanon-israel-border-fire-scandal-or-victory-for-tel-aviv/ Description: Senior Lebanese political analyst Anees Naqqash provides his analysis of the recent flareup on the Lebanese-Israeli border, an incident which is becoming the subject of many questions, theories and debates. In this interview on Al-Manar TV, Naqqash says something ‘very strange and major’ occurred in this incident, and perhaps the ambiguity will be removed in the future. However, the senior analyst, who is closely-tied to Hezbollah, affirmed that
South Front The joint Russian-Turkish patrol set to be held in southern Idlib on July 29 was delayed due to increased military tensions and the inability of Ankara to ensure the security of the patrol in its area of responsibility. And the situation does not seem to be improving. According to pro-militant sources, on the evening of July 29th and morning of July 30th, the Syrian Army launched over 500
by Pepe Escobar for The Saker Blog and originally posted at Asia Times When the Ronald Reagan and Nimitz carrier strike groups recently engaged in “operations” in the South China Sea, it did not escape to many a cynic that the US Pacific Fleet was doing its best to turn the infantile Thucydides Trap theory into a self-fulfilling prophecy. The pro forma official spin, via Rear Adm. Jim Kirk, commander
By Sayed Hasan for The Saker blog From resistancenews.org On the night of Sunday, July 19th, airstrikes hit Damascus International Airport. Though Israel didn’t claim responsibility for them, sticking to their longtime “zone of denial” policy, no one doubts they were the perpetrators. On Monday, the Syrian Army announced 7 soldiers were injured. It could have been one strike among hundreds of others, soon forgotten because of the lack of
US President Donald Trump announced on June 15 that Washington would reduce the number of US troops in Germany from 34,500 to 25,000 unless Berlin agreed to pay for their deployment and raise defense spending in accordance with NATO agreements. Trump has repeatedly demanded that all NATO countries spend at least two percent of their gross domestic products on defense. The envoy noted that the US administration’s decision on relocating
By Godfree Roberts from his newsletter : Today, moderate and nuanced views of China-US relations are less and less valued in the US. In a recent speech at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in California, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo portrayed the Communist Party of China (CPC) as a tyranny and called on the so-called free world to defeat it. This could be perceived as the
2020/07/29 22:30:02Welcome 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
