Part I, Part II The Franco-German axis An Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) is the formal procedure for negotiating amendments to the founding treaties of the EU. Under the treaties, an IGC is called into being the European Council and is composed of representatives of the Member States, with the European Commission, […]
Month: July 2020
Jean Castex’s First Three Errors
No doubt, Jean Castex is a brilliant senior civil servant. But that does not make him the right man to become Prime Minister of France. He has not thought about how to restore the social pact in the face of financial globalisation and is satisfied with measures to buy social peace in the short term. As soon as he was appointed, he showed that he did not want to reform the political class, that he was content to fight the pandemic by doing as others did, and that he supported the Maastrichian project conceived during the Cold War.
Coronavirus Criminality: Bolsonaro and the International Criminal Court
This could be the stuff of fiction. But then again, many legal principles began, at some point or rather, in the sludge of speculation before hardening into legal briefs and prosecutorial documents. Holding heads of state to account for crimes against their people remains a perennial project with a patchy […]
Quadrilateral Foreign Ministers’ Video Conference
China-Afghanistan-Pakistan-Nepal Quadrilateral Foreign Ministers’ Video Conference on Joint Response to COVID-19, was held on 27 July 2020. The meeting was chaired by State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi of China and attended by Acting Foreign Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar of Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and Federal Minister […]
Australia ‘Decouples’ From US China Policy
The Asian chancelleries have a great deal to mull over after the extraordinary joint press conference by the US and Australia following the AUSMIN meeting of their foreign and defence ministers in Washington, DC, on July 28. It is improbable that the Ministry of External Affairs in South Block missed […]
Trump’s Federal Intervention In America’s Liberal Dystopian Cities Is Long Overdue
It’s about time that Trump cracked down on the spree of urban terrorism that’s rocked many of America’s main cities over the past two months since his failure to ensure security has made it impossible to promote the country’s socio-economic development and safeguard citizens’ rights, but by doing so, he’s […]
China’s Silk Road Of Health Appears In South Asia
A virtual meeting of the foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nepal on July 27 becomes the third vector of Beijing’s ‘Silk Road of Health’ diplomacy in Asia. A Xinhua report on the event said China proposed that the four countries should “consolidate consensus of solidarity against COVID-19, carry […]
Mephistopheles Of Wall Street: Goldman Sachs, 1MDB And The Malaysian Settlement
Malaysia’s politicians were crowing. “We are confident that we are securing more money from Goldman Sachs compared to previous attempts, which were far below expectations,” stated Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz. “We are also glad to be able to resolve this outside the court system, which would have cost a […]
The Post-Communist Wars: The Conflict Over Nagorno-Karabakh In The 1990s (I)
Today, one of the most contested areas from the global perspective, together with Kosovo-Metochia in the Balkans, is in South Caucasus – the landlocked region of Nagorno-Karabakh (the Mountainous/High Karabakh as opposite to the Lower Karabakh) as disputed land between the Armenians and the Azeris. A recently renewed military conflict […]
Trump Might be Right, US Needs Russia In The Cold War II
The United State has entered the arena of unrestricted warfare with China, almost on all fronts. The US had started out in early 2018 as a trade war over tariffs, intellectual property theft had by the end of the year metamorphosed into a technology war over the global dominance of […]
The Sins of A Nation
Can a nation ever sin? If so, how can it be forgiven? The stories and prophetic writings of the Old Testament are replete with examples of national sin. There are certainly stories of God dealing with individuals, but, on the whole, His attention seems to be directed to Israel and […]
Revisions On China: Abandoning The Nixon Legacy
There is little doubt about it. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is the puffed-up hawk of the Trump administration, talons at the ready, beak protruding. While the president coos at the prospect of seeing, or admiring, the next strongman of international relations, Pompeo hovers over selected authoritarian targets. This […]
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