Closing the Book on the Assange Era

There are clearly some who are unhappy with Assange's release and believe he should have been either executed or incarcerated for life. The same day as the Notre Dame fire (which dominated the news) - the UK government arrested him in April 2019 at the Ecuadorian embassy where he had already been holed up since 2012. The reasons for his hiding in the embassy are rooted in bogus (and now dropped) charges of rape in Sweden. He suspected that as soon as he ended up in a UK court for an extradition hearing, the US would intervene and unwrap a sealed indictment against him. Its existence was an all but an open secret.

The Geopolitics of the Kazakhstan Protests, the Ukraine Crisis, and Eurasia's New Cold War (II)

The Central Asian states which were run by former Soviet apparatchiks (turned into authoritarian capitalists) relied upon energy revenue and the extraction of natural resources – and in the post-Soviet setting Western corporations flooded into the region to develop these sectors. Wall Street scored major victories and wealthy oligarchies developed in the Central Asian states. Needless to say corruption is endemic. This new post-Cold War political order and economic development in part explains the ongoing tensions with Russia, Iran, and Afghanistan. The logistics of getting resources out of landlocked Central Asia proved daunting and were never resolved. The ruling oligarchies were plugged into the energy economy and these countries rely on this money to function and pay the bills as it were.

The Establishment's Suppression of the January 6 Investigation (II)

The US sought unipolarity in 1989 and thirty years later it finds itself in grave danger, the dream lost, and US hegemony under threat. The American Establishment is desperate to re-engage the world and rekindle the kind of American dominance that the nation had in the decades after World War II. The vast wealth and power the US accumulated post-1945, is now under existential threat from foreign rivals.

Afghanistan and the Fall of Saigon

In recent days while reflecting on Afghanistan and the US withdrawal, I have thought more and more of Vietnam and what happened there in 1975. I was prompted to revisit the 2014 PBS film Last Days in Vietnam which was aired at the end of April 2015 – the fortieth anniversary of the fall of Saigon.

Asian Tensions and the Clash of Empires: Trump, Xi and the 19th Congress of the CCP

Has Xi extended his power or has he been rebuked and curtailed by elements within the Beijing bureaucracy? It depends on how you read the 19^th Congress and interpret its events.

Clearly on a war trajectory with the United States with the flashpoints being Taiwan and Hong Kong, one could argue that Xi's plans have been limited or restrained. The generals are resistant to his plans which would result in inevitable confrontation. No one doubts that Beijing could wound the American military – perhaps even inflict some stunning losses but ultimately the Chinese military thinks the cost would be too great. And for Xi, that would mean the end of his rule. And thus one interpretation was that this Congress represents a rebuke of Xi's aspirations.

And yet on the other hand Xi's maneuvering suggests a consolidation of power within the bureaucracy. In other words he's bit by bit setting himself up for more autonomy, for more comprehensive control which will become manifest in the near future. As master of the Beijing bureaucracy he won't easily be stopped.

Afghanistan and Iraq at the End of the Trump Era

The panicked reaction to Trump's planned troop withdrawal from both Iraq and Afghanistan has been palpable. The media and the US Establishment in general are hostile to the move and trying to sound the alarm. And yet at the same time they struggle with providing solid reasons for remaining in these seemingly endless conflicts – both of which have gone sideways and evolved into something other than what they originally were purported to be.

Trump +1307: Middle Eastern Geopolitics, Switching Alliances and American Absenteeism (II)

As previously mentioned, the explosion in Beirut was quickly capitalised on by France's Macron – the Americans are absent, and thus other Western powers like the French are stepping in. Macron as the former colonial power has inserted itself into the Lebanese situation and is already floating an overhaul of the Civil War settlement which established the sectarian blocs that rule the country. Despite this settlement, in practical terms, oligarchs control the government and  Hezbollah controls large sections of Lebanon's Northeast and South and a political shake-up could mean a challenge to Hezbollah's control – the very thing Macron and others would like to see.

A New Phase in the Syria War: The Kurds Betrayed Again and the Turkish Invasion of Rojava

I've been writing about Syria and the Kurds for many years as I was fascinated by these topics long before they became part of the nightly news cycle.

With that perspective I can honestly say that I've been more or less dismissive with regard to the present commentary on the part of the Establishment media and certainly the statements being made by the Right and the Evangelical audience.

The Kurds have been betrayed by the US on multiple occasions and while there was some protest in the wake of the Gulf War, for the most part few have cared... except now the situation is in reference to Syria and the presidency of Donald Trump.

9/11 Revisited

https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/09/article/we-are-all-hostages-of-9-11/

Regardless of what you think of Pepe Escobar this article is interesting and raises many salient points. I found myself hooked at the beginning when he started talking about Ahmad Shah Massoud. I remember very well where I was on 9 September 2001 when the news came over the radio that he had been killed. We had just bought an old fixer-upper schoolhouse turned domicile and I was poking around on that Sunday afternoon thinking about the repairs that needed to be done. The radio was tuned to NPR and the story of Massoud's death broke leaving me startled. I had been following Afghanistan for some time and his death was a pretty big deal. You definitely felt like something was going to happen, something would change.

The RICO Dragnet and its Dangers

http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/what-we-need-to-know-about-rico

RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act was developed in the early 1970's and was used to take down large sections of the Mafia and other criminal organisations.

OBOR, Atlanticism and Trumpism: Setting the Stage for Proxy Conflicts and Battlegrounds in the New Cold War (Part 2)

China's economy must continue growing. Continued Western investment is risky, all the more as it's clear the West is gearing for war. A capitalist economy must grow. Without investment and returns, stagnate capital begins to depreciate.

This is the point where Capitalism turns the imperialist corner. If there aren't any more markets, then you must find them, create them and if necessary force them open. And you must angle and strategise in order to make sure your rivals don't beat you to it.

Xi does not want to fight a war with the United States but his solution to the problem was to re-cast and expand China's already growing global economic footprint. OBOR also known as the New Silk Road gives China something to invest in and creates a multitude of new markets and opportunities.

American Evangelicalism, China and all things Eurasia (Part 1)

Beijing's 'clampdown' on Chinese Churches is making a splash in Evangelical circles and as I've long followed the state of Christianity in China, I've certainly been paying attention.

And yet something is amiss. The Christian coverage of the situation is deficient and that's probably being kind. There's plenty of condemnation to be levied at Beijing and yet are these various reporting agencies, hosts, interviewers and ministries concerned with the truth or not? Is this just another case of American Right-wing politics criticising international opposition? Shouldn't we as Christians approach this issue a little differently? Shouldn't our concerns be divorced from the political interests of the United States?

The TSA, Bureaucracy and Permanent War

https://www.npr.org/2018/07/30/633980912/tsas-quiet-skies-program-tracks-observes-travelers-in-the-air

Undoubtedly some will have noticed this story which broke a few weeks ago regarding the TSA programme of passenger surveillance.

The TSA or Transportation Security Administration is largely a joke but there's nothing funny about it. Implemented in the wake of 9/11 the organisation has been repeatedly defeated by inter-agency tests. It harasses and humiliates the public and yet is unable to stop weapons from getting on to airplanes.

Neo-McCarthyism and Cold War II (Part 2)

The US is bent on overthrowing the Assad regime in Syria. Obama supported this action from its very beginning. From the standpoint of US imperialism the removal of Assad dovetails beautifully with the designs of Israel and would represent a significant victory for US policy in defiance of Russia and to the detriment of Iran.

Establishment Civil War: Deep State Narratives and a Proposed Taxonomy of Factions Part 4

A System in Crisis and the Threat of Phoenix-style Counterinsurgency

By 2006 PNAC/Neo-Conservative project had been discredited. Clearly their grasp of geopolitics and its doctrinal application in terms of Rumsfeld's military doctrine had failed. As Wesley Clark famously revealed they had planned regime change operations in numerous countries but Iraq had become something of an albatross.

Pakistan: Imperial Blowback and the Shapur Effect

In 1757 the British defeated a joint Mughal-French army at the Battle of Plassey. This set them on a course to dominate the whole of the Indian Subcontinent forever changing its history.