a blog for those hard to find news items, awkward subjects and unwanted conversations.
The FT published a brilliant article on Monday (May 25) entitled, “Beijing is caught in ‘trap’ over dollar.” The article suggests the world’s fastest growing economy has placed too much of its hard-won cash reserves in the U.S. debt market and, as a result, has locked itself into a bit of a jam. As the [...]
Source: Wikipedia Chinese Military Power Report
The Middle East – and Iran issue specifically – lies at the center of so many foreign policy hurdles for the United States. The pursuit of peace in the Middle East and the reestablishment of a legitimate U.N. entity can only start with a proven warming of relations between the U.S. and Iran. – A [...]
Following Vlad Putin’s lovely ‘ditch the Dollar‘ remarks earlier this week .. the United Nations is jumping on the ‘Bash the U.S. Express’ and a panel of ‘experts’ on U.N. Commission of Experts on International Financial Reform. The Reuters Story here. Highlights: Currency specialist Avinash Persaud, a member of the panel of experts, told a [...]
The Guardian Newspaper (UK) yesterday reported on a confidential report leaked to the Press that outlines a ‘bleak picture of a counterinsurgency effort undermined by intelligence failures that at times border on the absurd.‘ This is on topic of recent comments by Army General David McKiernan – the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan – that [...]
Ok, so forgive lack of URL’s, scruffy typing, and shortness of breath – due to running to make train and then unapologetic anger after reading the
When U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, concluded her East Asian tour with a highly visible visit to China she demonstrated how times have truly changed. For a ‘Hyper-power’ like the U.S. is forced to bring a begging bowl to a once submissive, introspective, and seemingly naive nation, you know things have truly gone to [...]
Associated Press (AP) reports this morning that the “top U.S. commander [Army Gen. David McKiernan] offered a grim view Wednesday of miliarty efforts in southern Afghanistan, warning that 17,000 new troops will take on emboldened Taliban insurgents who have ‘stalemated’ U.S. and allied forces.” This is a huge deal and should raise massive – visible [...]
With the daily avalanche of doom and hideous gloom battering us from every angle – it’s very difficult (neigh, almost impossible!) to find any silver lining strong enough to tug on with reasonable focus and interest. So when you trip over the odd headline here and foreign-correspondent article there (in quiet corners of the media [...]
We are truly submerged in a Katrina of conspiracies, convenient fall-guys, and opportunistic (for some) chaos. So let us propose the most simple causes and perhaps, with a glass (or three) of Scotch, we can sleep better for it!
Yesterday the Persian Journal published a very succinct but insightful article on the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, who helped to end it and how. You can understand the not wholly misplaced distrust the Iranians hold against the United States and the United Nations. Whilst the U.S. aggressively sought to mediate an end to the bloody conflict [...]
On March 23 2007, Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of U.N. Watch in Geneva, Switzerland launched a long-overdue criticism of the hypocrisy that is the United Nation’s Human Rights Council. As a consequence, an outraged but thoroughly embarrassed council president, Luis Alfonso De Alba, immediately followed with a threat to strike Neuer’s testimony from U.N. records. [...]
