Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
Frankly Marina Ovsyannikova seems hell-bent on provoking Putin to make of her the jailed martyr he is making of Alexei Navalny. Marina Ovsyannikova, a former editor of the state-run Channel One network who denounced Moscow’s war on Ukraine during a live TV broadcast, faces criminal charges after Russia’s security services raided her home on Wednesday.… Read more.
Kenya held another free and fair presidential election last week. But, with Monday’s announcement of the official results, the country is threatening to descend into violence. That, of course, would be déjà vu all over again. Because the previous two elections, in 2012 and 2017, played out that way too. I commented on the most… Read more.
Much is being made about explosions that sent Russians scurrying from their beach cabanas on the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea on Tuesday. Ukraine claims they resulted from the derring-do of its Special Forces – who infiltrated behind enemy lines and blew up a Russian military airbase. But red-faced Russia insists the explosions resulted from nothing… Read more.
Common sense dictates that politicians play Robin Hood by lacing stump speeches with promises to take money from the rich to give to the poor. This, even though everyone knows the policies they implement invariably make the rich richer and the poor poorer. But wannabe prime minister Rishi Sunak seems utterly lacking in common sense.… Read more.
As my post on Wednesday shows, I was among the few liberals who urged Speaker Nancy Pelosi to defy China by going to Taiwan. I did so because I knew not only that China’s fiery rhetoric was just hot air, but also that Taiwan’s democracy was doomed if China could bully even the United States… Read more.
Nancy Pelosi pledged an ‘ironclad’ US commitment to Taiwan during a historic visit to the country on Wednesday that has infuriated China and raised warnings that military manoeuvres Beijing announced in retaliation would amount to a blockade of the island. The comments from the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, made during a meeting… Read more.
Democratic protests in Tunisia gave birth to the Arab Spring in 2011. Therefore, it speaks volumes that Tunisians voted this week to return to a form of government that makes the dictatorship they revolted against back then look positively Jeffersonian. More than 94 percent of the votes backed the new constitution, which will see sweeping executive powers… Read more.
China issued strong private warnings to the US government about a planned trip to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which included a possible military response, the Financial Times reported. China’s foreign ministry earlier this week officially vowed to take a “resolute and strong” response to any Taiwan visit by Pelosi, which was reported to… Read more.
According to the hype, Prince Harry’s forthcoming memoir will contain shocking revelations that are bound to shake the very foundation of the British monarchy. Except that redoubtable British biographer Tom Bower just stole Harry’s thunder. In Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors, Bower rehashes hackneyed gossip with contumely relish (e.g., that Meghan… Read more.
Nelson Mandela International Day is all about mobilizing people, governments, NGOs, and corporations to take steps every day to make this world a better place. The United Nations sent out a clarion call today for everyone to redouble efforts to meet the Mandela Day organization’s 2030 goals. Mandela Day goals Goal 1 – Provision of… Read more.
