WORLD WATCH

ITALIAN POLITICS - The rise of far-right politician Giorgia Meloni has left many outside Italy asking how her brand of what many argue is fascism can achieve such prominence in a country that has experienced life under the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini.

RISING EXTREMISM - Energy and food bills are soaring. Under the onslaught of inflation and prolonged wage stagnation, wages are in free fall.

WAR WATCH - On 2 December 1943, 105 German bombers made a surprise air raid on Bari in southern Italy, where they sank 27 Allied cargo and transport ships.

RUSSIAN DRAFT - The head of a military draft office in the Russian town of Ust-Ilimsk was being treated for injuries on Monday after being shot by a gunman who—like more than 1,000 people who have been arrested for protesting in recent days—was reportedly angry over President Vladimir Putin's recent military conscription announcement.

A NIGHTMARE SCENARIO - Unable to recruit enough soldiers from the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin takes North Korean leader Kim Jong-un up on his recent offer to send 100,000 North Koreans to join the Russian president’s ill-fated attempt to seize Ukraine.

GUEST COMMENTARY - In Washington, wide agreement exists that the Russian army’s performance in the Kremlin’s ongoing Ukraine “special military operation” ranks somewhere between lousy and truly abysmal.

NON PROLIFERATION - After two weeks in Iran during latter part of January 1979, the height of the revolutionary movement against the dynastic, autocratic rule of Mohammed Reza Ayatollah, I had the opportunity for an extended conversation with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in his tent where he received foreign visitors and journalists during his final days in Paris.

FOREIGN RELATIONS - Following the chaotic U.S. departure from Afghanistan in August 2021 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Washington has sought to reaffirm its commitment to its allies and partners.

GUEST COMMENTARY - The current US, UK , EU and NATO policies vis à vis Russia and China violate the letter and spirit of the UN Charter as well as many prior declarations and commitments and treaties which are at the basis of modern international law.

GUEST COMMENTARY - The recent provocative and unnecessary visit to Taiwan by Democratic Congresswoman Pelosi may well be a turning point the US (and potentially, the world) will regret.

NUCLEAR DETERRENCE - 77 years ago, the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945 and three days later, Nagasaki, resulted in immediate deaths of approximately 120,000 majority civilians and by year’s end over 210,000.

CLIMATE WATCH - Gas prices hit an all-time high in June, with the national average surpassing $5 per gallon.

ESPIONAGE? - It is a dangerous, unpredictable time. Since the Home Secretary signed the extradition order, a provisional appeal has been filed by Julian’s lawyers.

WAR SANCTIONS - In a blog entry reflecting on the G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Bali, Indonesia on July 7-8, the High Representative of the European Union, Josep Borrell, seems to have accepted the painful truth that the West is losing what he termed “the global battle of narratives.”

ARMS & OIL PRODUCTION - President Biden’s fist bump with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), and the president’s up-close-and-personal handshake with former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu,

GUEST COMMENTARY - Perhaps nothing has changed Turkey’s domestic and international trajectory since the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923 than the failed military coup of July 2016, which gave Erdogan an unprecedented opportunity to satisfy his insatiable lust for power. 

 JAN 6 COMMITTEE - "All bets are off," Jason Van Tatenhove said on Tuesday before the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.

GUEST COMMENTARY - A number of nuclear strategy Experts have agreed that the only sensible response to China’s alarming new buildup of nuclear weapons is for the U.S. itself to build more and better weapons.

SURVEILLANCE TOOLS - In a recent commentary, I discussed the visit to China of the UN’s chief human rights official on what proved to be a seriously misguided and rather naïve attempt to improve the conditions of the Uyghur population in Xinjiang province.

NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT - The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has been ratified by 65 governments, known in diplomatic circles as States Parties.

WORLD WATCH - The Abraham Accords have been in the making for several years; what has ultimately brought them to fruition is the Arab states’ national security interests.