A relatively small portion of Putin’s speech was devoted to military matters, but it is this component that has been seized upon by the western media. That coverage has ranged from the near hysterical to the outright skeptical. Almost none of the media coverage reflected an understanding of the Russian announcements and in particular few recognised the implications of the announcements made by Mr Putin for the geopolitical balance of power in the world.
The Kurdish region of Afrin in northern Syria has become a new geopolitical pivot point in the conflict. With so many actors’ interests overlapping, whose positions will be weakened and whose solidified if hostilities escalate? With so many different agendas now converging along the borderlands, many fear that Turkey’s latest military masterplan and march towards Afrin threatens to open up […]
Minutes of diplomatic meetings reveal unpleasant truths about the war against Syria. Translation: Hanin Elias The Lebanese daily newspaper Al Akhbar published a detailed article on US plans for Syria on February 22, 2018. The original text titled “Washington to its Allies: Let’s Split Syria” comes from journalists Mohammad Ballout and Walid Sharara. The text is based on a diplomatic […]
Western governments, their corporate news media, and even the United Nations’ chief Antonio Guterres are once again playing a disgusting, emotive propaganda game over the Syrian war.
On January 8, Fiona Bruce introduced an item about Syria on BBC News at Ten with the phrase: ‘Syrian government forces, backed by Russia’. Why does BBC News not regularly use the phrase, ‘Saudi government forces, backed by the United States and the UK’ when reporting on bombs dropped on Yemen? The answer should be obvious.
Turkish operations against Kurds that had previously struck a de facto truce with Damascus may be asked to change tack and take up a decidedly anti-Damascus stance in exchange for a reprieve from the current onslaught. Just as Washington gifted Anakara with a pretext to further invade Syrian territory, Anakara will have gifted Washington with Kurds more motivated to serve US interests in Syria rather than their own.
“I don’t have the evidence,” Mattis said. “What I am saying is that other groups on the ground – NGOs, fighters on the ground – have said that sarin has been used, so we are looking for evidence.”
Open a corporate media website on any given day and you will find someone, somewhere blaming social media for something. No claim is too absurd.
Turkey’s attack on US-backed Kurds this week comes as a new set of economic relationships emerges to bankroll Ankara’s regional ambitions
Rather than indulging drum-beating hawks like Carter, politicians, journalists and anyone else really concerned with understanding and challenging British militarism might find in such places much more useful information and critical direction.
The art of the non-deal might be the only way out of the stand-off between the US and North Korea
The Russian government has recently announced it will issue nearly $1 billion equivalent in state bonds, but denominated not in US dollars as is mostly the case. Rather it will be the first sale of Russian bonds in China’s yuan. While $1 billion may not sound like much when compared with the Peoples’ Bank of China total holdings of US Government debt of more than $1 trillion or to the US Federal debt today of over $20 trillion, it’s significance lies beyond the nominal amount.
