Asia

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 […]

Afghanistan

12 Strong. The Inside Story on the Making of a (Refreshingly Accurate) Hollywood War Epic

contributors

By Brian Glyn Williams (with Julie Romei) | (Informed Comment) | – – When I received a phone call from a representative for famed producer Jerry Bruckheimer to visit the remote mountains of New Mexico to see the filming set for the forthcoming Afghan war movie, 12 Strong: The True Declassified Story of the Horse […]

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 […]

Afghanistan

US Cuts Aid to Pakistan As Trump Ramps Up Blackmail Tactic

contributors

TeleSur | – – On Wednesday U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said the U.S. would withhold US$255 million in assistance to Pakistan. U.S. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert announced Thursday it would freeze nearly all security aid to Pakistan until “the Pakistani government takes decisive action” against terrorist groups. Although Nauert did not […]

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 […]

Islamophobia

Ignoring Rohingya Ethnic Cleansing is Creating another Palestine

contributors

Middle East Monitor | – – The international community must act swiftly on the Rohingya crisis or the world will create another Palestine. That was the stark warning issued by a delegation from the Middle East in a meeting with the Speaker of the Bangladesh Parliament on Tuesday. The members of the delegation included representatives […]