East Asia

By Dilip Hiro | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – In his State of the Union address, Donald Trump warned grimly of “rivals like China and Russia that challenge our interests, our economy, and our values.” In response, he demanded that Congress give even more money to “our great military” and fund the growth and modernization […]

Afghanistan

US Pentagon will Keep fighting in Syria until they win the Vietnam War

contributors

By Danny Sjursen | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – Vietnam: it’s always there. Looming in the past, informing American futures. A 50-year-old war, once labeled the longest in our history, is still alive and well and still being refought by one group of Americans: the military high command. And almost half a century later, they’re […]

China

Is China coming into Syria for its “One Belt, One Road”?

Neil Thompson

By Neil Thompson | (Informed Comment) | – – As the Syrian civil war begins to wind down after six and a half years of bitter fighting, a new phase is emerging in the battered country’s political life — plans for country’s postwar reconstruction are already being laid even as the fighting between Islamist rebels […]

North Korea

A Second Korean War, this Time with Nukes?

Rajan Menon

( Tomdispatch.com) | – – Most people intuitively get it. An American preventive strike to wipe out North Korea’s nuclear bombs and ballistic missiles, or a commando raid launched with the same goal in mind, is likely to initiate a chain of events culminating in catastrophe. That would be true above all for the roughly […]

China

Is China’s dominance of Green Energy Markets a path to Global Dominance?

contributors

By Chris G. Pope | (The Conversation) | – – If there is to be an effective response to climate change, it will probably emanate from China. The geopolitical motivations are clear. Renewable energy is increasingly inevitable, and those that dominate the markets in these new technologies will likely have the most influence over the […]

Environment

EVs are Better: Iranian oil tanker in East China Sea could burn for a month

contributors

Middle East Monitor | – – The stricken Iranian oil tanker in the East China Sea could burn for as long as one month, South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries told Reuters on Wednesday, as the blaze raged for a fourth day following a collision with a freight ship. Dozens of rescue boats battled […]

China

Dragon Ascendant: Green China, not Red China, increasingly Bestrides the World

Neil Thompson

Neil Thompson | (Informed Comment) | – – “Surpass Britain and catch up with America” was one of the more idealistic slogans put about by Mao Zedong after he reunited China back into one country again in 1949. Though it would ultimately fall to his successor Deng Xiaoping to plant China’s feet back on the […]

China

Heating with Coal Takes 3 Years off Your Life: China Study

contributors

Feng Hao | (ChinaDialogue) | – – Lives in northern China are shorter than in the south because of air pollution from heating, reports Feng Hao In Beijing, the switch from coal to gas heating has reduced levels of tiny particles (PM2.5 and PM10) in November by 55% and 46% on last year (Image: Nick McIntosh) Each year, the winter chill creates […]

Green Energy

“Solar+Batteries” = the Cheapest Energy, as S. Korea powers past Coal

contributors

By Frank Rijsberman | (Inter Press Service) | – – SEOUL, Dec 13 2017 (IPS) – Renewable energy became the cheapest form of electricity in 58 emerging economies last year. This year, the 11th Lazard’s Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis (LCOE 11.0) showed that solar and wind energy generation costs (at $46 to $53 per […]