Analysis

BEIJING, China--Political polarization will continue to deepen and political violence is likely to happen during the following election, Chinese experts predicted as far-right incumbent Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and his leftist rival former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are set for a runoff election at the end of this month after a tighter than expected first round.

WASHINGTON, U.S.--The Iran hawks never miss an opportunity to get things wrong. As the murder of a young Iranian woman Mahsa Amini by the infamous “morality police” in Tehran triggered nationwide protests, Nikki Haley, former President Trump’s ambassador to the UN, warned against Washington getting into a deal with “anyone who treats their people this way.” Trump’s secretary of state Mike Pompeo, true to form, called for more sanctions on Iran.

WASHINGTON, U.S.--President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he would back resuming Russian ammonia exports through Ukraine only if Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) were released. This is a non-starter for several reasons, not the least of which is that Ukraine too would earn substantial fees from transporting the ammonia. 

WASHINGTON, U.S.--Before Hurricane Ian inflicted destruction on Florida’s west coast, it ravaged the western provinces of Cuba, knocking out power to the entire island and demolishing the heart of the tobacco industry, one of Cuba’s major exporters.

NEW YORK, U.S.--"The PRC's [Communist China's] long-term goal," the Pentagon wrote in 2020, "is to create an entirely self-reliant defense-industrial sector—fused with a strong civilian industrial and technology sector—that can meet the PLA's needs for modern military capabilities."

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia--Anti-Russian sanctions in the field of agricultural exports have destroyed the usual logistics routes and worsened the situation on the food market in the face of numerous global challenges.

WASHINGTON, U.S.--The U.S. employs broad economic sanctions with increasing frequency despite their poor record of success and the growing body of evidence that they cause significant harm to the populations of the countries where they are imposed.

WASHINGTON, U.S.--Russia and China have had a long, complicated history, but they have nevertheless formed a strong bilateral relationship in the twenty-first century. 

NEW YORK, U.S.--Western democracies are under assault by a Russia determined to bring the United States and its allies to their knees.

BANGKOK, Thailand--As the world is going through a generational transition in political, administrative, and bureaucratic leadership, governance has been plagued with crisis after crisis.

SACRAMENTO, U.S.--In a coincidence that illustrates the great changes that Queen Elizabeth II had to deal with during a long reign, her death on September 8 came just a few hours after India, a leading member of what was once called the “British Commonwealth,” began removing some of the last emblems of British colonialism from central Delhi.

WASHINGTON, U.S.--Even as the Ukraine war enters a new phase with significant Russian losses in the Donbass, the center of diplomatic gravity this week will be in the historic city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan, where the annual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is taking place.

BEIJING, China--After more than 70,000 protesters filled Wenceslas Square in the Czech Republic to express their anger over soaring energy prices, more people living in Europe are taking to the streets to protest against their governments for putting Ukraine ahead of their own residents' livelihoods.

NEW YORK, U.S.--Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's ideological family tree is inherently anti-Western-- hence, anti-US and anti-NATO. This author's most recent article, "NATO Family Picture in Madrid: This Will Not Be Erdoğan's Last Blackmail," was posted on July 7. 

NEW YORK, U.S.--How do nations become wealthy? Many are blessed with abundant natural resources. Others conquer foreign lands. Some specialize in unique trade skills and crafts. Timber, mining, fishing, sugar, rum, narcotics, cotton, silk, agriculture, conquest, human slavery, manufacturing, oil, industry, banking, and so on — depending on the century and the region, nations have attained tremendous wealth in myriad ways. Notice that no nation has managed merely to print money and tax its citizens on the path to prosperity. Real wealth cannot simply be conjured from thin air. There must be recognized value in what a nation and its citizens possess.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia--The Malaysian judiciary delivered justice and advanced the rule of law on 23 August when the Federal Court upheld former prime minister Najib Razak's conviction and 12-year jail sentence for corruption in the SRC international trial, restoring public trust in that no one is above the law in our land.

NEW YORK, U.S.--The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) recently warned that China's interest in the agriculture of the United States poses both a serious economic challenge and a security risk to the United States.

WASHINGTON, U.S.--Amid a precarious proxy war with Russia, a brewing crisis with China, and a potential confrontation with Iran – not to mention considerable turbulence at home – Americans can at least take comfort in knowing that the NATO alliance is continuing to expand.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia--Since the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, the issue of U.S. funded and supported biological laboratories has come under the spotlight with many questions being asked over what their ultimate purpose is.