On September 11-12, North Korea successfully test-fired a new type of long-range cruise missile. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that the missiles “traveled for 7,580 seconds along an oval and pattern-8 flight orbits in the air above the territorial land and waters” in North Korea “and hit targets 1,500 km away,” and all design requirements were met. This was the third missile…
Politics
Eastern Asia - North Korea
17.09.2021
The Gap between Washington and Islamabad is Widening
In recent years, there has been an undisguised deterioration in relations between Washington and Islamabad. However, this breakdown with a country once considered a critical military and political ally of the United States in South Asia and the Middle East has long been evident. The US-Pakistan alliance has already been severely damaged since the killing of Osama…
Southern Asia - Pakistan
16.09.2021
Washington’s Rift with Riyadh Grows Deeper
With Joe Biden’s arrival in the White House, several irritants have once again come to the forefront in US-Saudi Arabia relations. The Saudis are unhappy with President Biden’s intention to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in relations with Iran, as well as the US refusal to see the Houthi movement in Yemen as a “terrorist organization…
Middle East - Saudi Arabia
16.09.2021
How Long Will the Taliban Rule Last?
The Taliban’s (a movement banned in the Russian Federation) first political steps are being watched with particular attention by the international community to determine the direction of further contacts and relations with the new Afghan authorities. Several previous claims against the Taliban have created a bad reputation of this movement that still dominates…
Central Asia - Afghanistan
15.09.2021
The Biden Administration Rips US-Saudia Alliance Apart
While the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks has been marked by the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the end of the US’ longest ever war is also seeing some significant changes in the US geo-politics. Specifically, the arrival of Joe Biden in the White House has set in motion forces that could dramatically redefine the nature of US ties with one of its closest allies…
Middle East - Saudi Arabia
15.09.2021
Criticism of Individual COVID-19 Vaccines Continues Unabated
Although the official death toll from COVID-19 currently stands at 4.5 million, individual experts estimate that the actual death toll could be as high as 15.2 million. Therefore, it is not surprising to see increased attention in all countries on the effectiveness of the world’s vaccines against the coronavirus pandemic and an active discussion…
Eastern Asia - Japan
15.09.2021
India, France and Britain Join a Military Exercise in the Indo-Pacific Region
The Indo-Pacific (IP) as a whole and its subregions are becoming increasingly militarized. As always, military demonstrations are designed to bolster diplomatic activity of individual players. These include, first of all, the two leading world powers – the United States and China, whose military and demonstration activity…
Asian-Pacific region
Economics
17.09.2021
The Strange China Feud of Soros and BlackRock
A bizarre war of words has erupted in recent days in the pages of financial media between billionaire hedge fund and color revolution specialist, George Soros, and the gigantic BlackRock investment group. The issue is a decision by BlackRock CEO Larry Fink to open the first foreign-owned mutual fund in China presumably to attract the savings of China’s new…
Eastern Asia - China
16.09.2021
Russian-Indonesian Relations Grow Stronger Amid Geopolitical Instability
Indonesia, a country of 270 million people and ASEAN’s largest economy, is actively involved in the affairs of Southeast Asia and seeks to maintain peace, stability and economic development in the region for its own security and to accelerate its economic growth. For its part, the Russian Federation, whose foreign policy objectives…
Southeast Asia
16.09.2021
The IAEA's "Western Policy" on Iran
The mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in connection with Iran’s nuclear activities is strictly limited to technical issues and highly confidential, however the political exploitation of the issue is carried on by certain Western powers in stark contradiction with the principles of independence, impartiality, and professionalism that…
Southeast Asia
14.09.2021
Lebanon on the Verge of a Possible Solution to the Ongoing Crisis
A high-level Lebanese government delegation held talks in Syria in an attempt to solve the severe fuel crisis that has paralyzed the entire country. This is the highest level of official visit since the civil war in Syria started, unleashed by the West and the Gulf monarchies, more than a decade ago. The Lebanese delegation, headed…
Middle East - Lebanon
13.09.2021
Why is Iran Joining the SCO?
At the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), to be held on September 16-17 in Tajikistan, the official announcement of the procedure of Iran’s admission to its membership is expected. It will be an anniversary summit of the organization founded 20 years ago in 2001 by six states – The Shanghai Five (China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan), formed in 1996, and joined…
Middle East - Iran
08.09.2021
Macron’s Visit to Iraq and Ankara’s Zealous Reaction
French President Emmanuel Macron’s two-day visit to Iraq, during which he visited several cities and was the special guest at a regional conference in Baghdad, ended on August 30. The president of France previously visited Baghdad In September 2020, where he met with Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi and President Barham Salih. At the press conference…
Middle East - Iraq
07.09.2021
The Collective West Fears an Increased Role for Germany
Over the last hundred years, oil and gas have often been the cause of numerous conflicts and wars. They have given rise to ad hoc strategies to seize energy deposits or prevent adversaries from gaining control of a vital resource to industrial nations and modern armies. And more than once, invader countries have learned by their own bitter experience that the price they have to pay…
Europe
Society
16.09.2021
Trump Says America is Dying, Is He Right?
Something strange has happened to America. Millions of Americans are demonstrating symptoms of what are generally referred to as pathological disorders, generally personality disorders, of the kind normally attributed to abandonment by parents or sexual abuse as children. You see it every day, not just in violence against nurses or school officials but in the overall tone…
USA in the World
15.09.2021
Get It: A True Understanding of American Policies
There’s a blazing truth staring Russia in the face. It’s a truth 193 other countries have been forced to face too. Americans, by and large, do not give a damn what wars we are in, or if we win or lose. The plight of other nations, or even our next door neighbors’ catastrophes, are too far outside our empowered exceptionalism. I know, I know, it’s a shocking revelation…
USA in the World
14.09.2021
Middle-Easterners Left To Die Because “Local Knowledge” Is Not Profitable for Westerners
So they’ve finally woken up! The media who have told us for decades that the Middle East is full of Arabs in striped headscarves riding camels through the desert are beginning to realise that there might be a water crisis in the Middle East! This is the latest revelation from the people who took ten years to discover that if you take everyone’s crops…
Middle East
14.09.2021
Fighting Pop Culture Fashion in North Korea
The South Korean media periodically publishes stories about how the North represses yet another group of teenagers. The last such news story the author came across was from Korea Times: A group of Anju Middle School students, while on a Red Youth Guard internship, were spotted singing and dancing to a song by South Korean boy band BTS, “Blood, Sweat…
Eastern Asia - North Korea
10.09.2021
9/11, a Personal Journey Down the Rabbit Hole
We all remember 9/11 as we remember so many other days, the Challenger disaster, the Kennedy murders or, for me, the fall of Saigon. For me, 9/11 began a new journey. I had some years ago tried to move my own career from defense and intelligence endeavors to the sane and rational, real work with real people. Defense and intelligence work is hardly real…
USA in the World
08.09.2021
Afghan Refugees Exacerbate Western Divisions and Create New Problems
One of the most severe and visible consequences of the crisis in Afghanistan has been the influx of Afghan refugees seeking to flee the country because of the chaos resulting from Western actions in the country. Refugees don’t have many choices. Air communication with the outside world has been severed, so the main wave of migrants…
Central Asia - Afghanistan
03.09.2021
The Opportune Time to Help Afghan Refugees! Really, Since When?
Now the story in Afghanistan is shifting away from the actual Taliban takeover, and the Kabul Airport blast, towards the evacuation and fallout. Or rather, it is shifting to the screams of Western governments and NGOs that “We have another flood of refugees coming, Oh No, what can we do?” These are the same Western governments…
USA in the World
