Recent Posts

Blundering on the Brink

The Secret History and Unlearned Lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis There aren’t enough palm trees, the Soviet general thought to himself. It was July 1962, and Igor Statsenko, the 43-year-old Ukrainian-born commander of the Red Army’s missile division, found himself inside a helicopter, flying over central and western Cuba. …

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The World Beyond Ukraine

The Survival of the West and the Demands of the Rest “Ukraine has united the world,” declared Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a speech on the first anniversary of the start of the war with Russia. If only that were true. The war has certainly united the West, but it …

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China Wins The Mediation Medal – Analysis

Recent developments in the Middle East have cast China as a reliable intermediary and proponent of multilateral dialogue, signalling a departure from Beijing’s typical reluctance to participate meaningfully in conflict negotiations. Saudi Arabia and Iran’s decision to restore diplomatic relations has raised Beijing’s diplomatic profile and political influence. The agreement …

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A Road Paved with Irritations: Macron’s Strategic Third Way

Emmanuel Macron’s recent visit to China did not quite go according to plan, though much depends on what was planned to begin with. In one sense, the French President was consistent, riding the hobbyhorse of Europe’s strategic autonomy, one hived off from the US imperium and free of Chinese influence. …

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The West and the Majority World – Repression Versus Openness

Since its inception, the leaders of the ALBA countries have denounced North American and European imperialism’s brutal exploitation and domination and its gangster diplomacy of “Do what we want or else…”. In 2004, Comandante Fidel Castro and Comandante Hugo Chávez founded what is now the Bolivarian Alliance of the peoples …

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The Emerging New World Economy

The emerging new always both frightens and inspires the fading old. History is that unity of opposites. Sharp-edged rejections of what is new clash with enthusiastic celebrations of it. The old gets pushed away even as bitter denials of that reality surge. The emerging new world economy displays just such …

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