Security

Finally, the EU and Trump See Eye-to-Eye on One International Policy: China

Both Trump and the EU are turning on China for very similar reasons but with different timescales ahead of them. The West still struggles with what it requires from China and whether it wants to get rich and become a big spender, or become poorer and flood western markets with cheaper and cheaper goods. Expect more devaluation of the Yuan.

Floundering NATO Tries to Surface by Confronting China

On June 8 Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of the U.S.-NATO military alliance, gave a speech at NATO’s new billion dollar headquarters in Brussels. It was followed by a selection of patsy questions, but in spite of the trite predictability of Stoltenberg’s statements and the eager friendliness of the questioners, enough was said to indicate that NATO is still on the lookout for enemies to attempt to justify its continuing shaky existence.

Why the Sudden U.S. Keenness for Arms Control Talks With Russia?

The answer to the above question comes down to one word: China.
U.S. envoy Marshall Billingslea is, rather belatedly, making enthusiastic sounds about arms control talks to be held with Russia later this month. The talks are scheduled for June 22 in Vienna. The Kremlin has confirmed the venue and discussions, with deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov representing the Russian side.

Trump’s Touted Troop Pullout From Germany Is More Rift Than Gift

President Donald Trump’s reported order to withdraw nearly 10,000 US troops from bases in Germany has engendered frissons of angst about the future of NATO, the transatlantic relationship, and European security. The most preposterous reaction came from American and European security officials who called the move a “gift to Putin”.

The Pentagon’s Battle Space Is Expanding

On 1 June the US Air Force Times reported that two B-1B Lancer nuclear bombers based in South Dakota had just completed a “long-range training flight” to the Black Sea during which they carried out manoeuvres to practice using “a long-range missile designed to target and destroy enemy ships.” This deployment was “especially important to prepare B-1 crews to counter new and emerging threats and to be ready for a conflict against a major power, as outl

Somalia: Erratic U.S. Policy Failure Doesn’t Get Noticed. But a U.S. Diplomat Struggling With an End-of-Career Crisis Might

Churchill is believed to have once said that “diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions.” If that is true, then can we assume that Washington’s man in East Africa has lost his edge? Or perhaps just his mind.
There is a fable of a senior foreign office official from London in colonial times visiting a ‘District Officer’ in East Africa. They both venture out into the dessert in a Land Rover and the official asks his khaki clad DO three questions.
“What is the name of the tribe in this area?”

How the Cold War, Which Never Actually Stopped, Actually Started

This will be the first-ever credible, or “historical,” but brief, account of how the Cold War actually began, and of why it started, and of why it continues today (even though it started on the basis of lies which have long-since become exposed but — for reasons which will become obvious — the exposing of which lies remains hidden from the public, so that ‘history’ can be preserved, and the public thus remains deceived).
INTRODUCTION