Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
Kissinger, authoritarian whisperer of realpolitik Henry Kissinger was a titan of 20th-century geopolitics. But his legacy is as complex as it is controversial. Many hailed him as a master strategist. I railed against him as a cunning narcissist. He courted praise for dispensing sage chess-like geopolitical advice. Yet, I can fairly distill his diplomatic treatise… Read more.
I’ve argued for years that annual G20 summits are much ado about nothing. But I’ve always recognized their one politically redeeming value. That used to be the opportunity for the world’s political power brokers to forge collegial relationships. Even that illusion has crumbled. G20 Summit India President Putin is AWOL. But he has been for years. This year, Russia’s genocidal… Read more.
North Korea supplying Russia Chinese weapons The X factor in the war in Ukraine is whether China will end up supplying weapons to Russia the way the US is supplying them to Ukraine. I submit that China will not. But it faces an abiding dilemma: China has a geostrategic interest in seeing Russia prevail. But it fears doing… Read more.
Chinese President Xi Jinping finally spoke with Zelensky today. But he only did so as a feint to help Russian President Vladimir Putin and himself. Yet everyone is reacting as if Xi offered Zelensky a credible peace plan. A plan, that is, that will make Ukraine’s looming counteroffensive unnecessary. But nothing could be further from the… Read more.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to China was a strategic blunder. It has caused concern and consternation in the EU, US, and Ukraine. Macron said he was furthering peace and reconciliation. But he ended up fomenting war and discord. Macron’s visit to China Frankly, his visit was more about France than Ukraine. Macron was channeling the imperious Charles… Read more.
Putin hoped Xi’s state visit to Russia would reinforce their “friendship without limits.” He wanted Xi to agree to supply weapons to help him wage his genocidal war in Ukraine. But Xi has been limiting his support to little more than parroting Putin’s propaganda. Xi’s state visit to Russia And who can blame Putin? After… Read more.
Russian pilots have been menacing US pilots and unmanned drones for years. And they’ve been doing so with reckless abandon and impunity. So this comes as no surprise: Russia downs US drone The Kremlin said it would try to retrieve the wreckage of the surveillance drone, which the Biden administration said was crashed in international… Read more.
Henry Kissinger is confessing his sins. He now admits he misjudged Russia and its war in Ukraine. But he’s still hedging his bets. So it’s not quite a “deathbed” conversion. Kissinger admits he misjudged Russia Kissinger called for negotiations at the Davos Economic Forum last year. But he said the ideal solution would be a… Read more.
Podcast Episode 99 Given the way Western media are covering the protests raging across China, you’d be forgiven for thinking they portend revolutionary change. But they are just sound and fury signifying … relatively little. This episode explains why. Note: I recorded this episode on Wednesday and published it originally the next day (Dec 1). Listen.
Podcast Episode 86 My blog is replete with commentaries attesting to my belief that women make better leaders than men. They range from “Cracking the Political Glass Ceiling: First Woman to Become President in South America,” December 12, 2005, to “International Women’s Day: ‘Men Should Be Barred from Politics’, March 8, 2019. But nothing vindicates… Listen.
