Categories
Terror in Europe

How To Defeat ISIS? Only A Global Coalition – And Ground Troops

NEW YORK — French President Francois Hollande pledged a “pitiless” war on ISIS after Friday’s Paris massacre. Russian President Vladimir Putin says his nation is focused on “finding and punishing the perpetrators” who downed a Russian passenger jet over Egypt. U.S. President Barack Obama says the goal is to “degrade and ultimately destroy this barbaric terrorist organization.” How? That’s the question none of these men seems willing to answer. Here’s one idea that, while not optimal militarily, might hedge the political risk: Form a broad alliance, akin to the one that pushed Saddam Hussein’s forces out of Kuwait in 1991, […]

Categories
blog

On This Day – November 20

Categories
Eyes on the U.S. Geopolitics

Does Edward Snowden Have Paris Blood On His Hands?

WASHINGTON — In a pair of public appearances this week, CIA Director John O. Brennan made clear that he blames leaks by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden for enabling terrorists to evade detection. “Because of a number of unauthorized disclosures, and a lot of hand-wringing over the government’s role in the effort to try to […]

Categories
blog

On This Day – November 19

Categories
Eyes on the U.S. Ideas Terror in Europe Trump And The World

The Paris Attack Could Redefine The U.S. Presidential Race

WASHINGTON — The 2016 presidential campaign has been peculiarly disconnected from the real world of problems, crises and governing. It took the catastrophe in Paris to narrow the gap — and even a monstrous terrorist attack may not shake the trajectory of a contest that operates within a logic of its own. The inevitable distance between politicking and the business of running a government is especially wide this year because of the strange configuration of the Republican field. Donald Trump and Ben Carson in particular have detached themselves from anything resembling normal politics, and sometimes from reality itself. Moreover, the […]

Categories
blog

Greeks Stage Mass Strike, EU Arrests Jihadists, Twin Love

KURDS LAUNCH IRAQ OFFENSIVE Backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes last night, Kurdish Iraqi forces launched a major offensive today to retake the strategic northern Iraqi town of Sinjar from ISIS fighters, Al Jazeera reports. According to a statement from the Kurdish Regional Security Council, about 7,500 Peshmerga fighters aim to cut off ISIS supply lines […]

Categories
Society

Parking In New York Has A Grammar Of Its Own

Alternate-side parking, illogical signage, unspoken rules, clueless New Jersey visitors. Everything in New York has its own rules and language. Even parking your car.

Categories
Economy Eyes on the U.S.

America’s Latest Political Weapon: Oil

The U.S. was once vulnerable to the geopolitics of energy reserves. Now American shale gas exploration offers foreign policy muscle in the face of the Saudis, Russians and Iranians.

Categories
Geopolitics Ideas Syria Crisis

Obama Plays Chess, Putin Plays Poker

Where the Russian leader lacks any real strategy, his American counterpart is short on nerve. They’re playing two different games and following very different rules.

Categories
Eyes on the U.S. Ideas

The United States As Global Monarch, A Different Kind Of Empire

Since the end of World War I, the United States has been methodically establishing a global state, in the same way European kings built power.

Categories
blog

VW Scandal Widens, More U.S. China Sea Patrols, Flaming Parachute

U.S. PLANS MORE SOUTH CHINA SEA PATROLS The U.S. will continue conducting patrols near artificial Chinese islands in the disputed South China Sea, Reuters quoted a U.S. defense official as saying yesterday. The official said patrols would happen about twice a quarter, describing that as “the right amount to make it regular but not a […]

Categories
blog

China Ends One-Child Policy, GOP Debate, Google Balloons

CHINA ENDS ONE-CHILD POLICY After months of speculation, China today officially ended its notorious 35-year-long one-child policy, allowing couples in the country to have two children, Xinhua state news agency reports. China’s so-called “family planning policy” was implemented in September 1980 in an effort to alleviate social, economic and environmental problems. But as The Guardian […]

Categories
blog

Clinton Keeps Cool, UK Releases Spy Files, Adele Redux

GOP BENGHAZI HEARING FAILS TO RILE CLINTON Photo: Ron Sachs/CNP/ZUMA Democrat presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton kept her composure throughout an 11-hour congressional special hearing set up by the Republican majority Thursday on the deadly Benghazi attack that killed the U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three colleagues on Sept. 11, 2012. […]

Categories
blog

Kerry-Netanyahu Meeting, Refugees in Slovenia, Mark Hamill Mystery

KERRY, NETANYAHU MEET IN GERMANY U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Berlin today for talks about ongoing violence between Israelis and Palestinians. Kerry called for an immediate end to all incitement and violence after three weeks of deadly attacks. Netanyahu also called for a de-escalation but blamed […]

Categories
blog

Intelligence Leak Reveals Details Of U.S. Drone Program

NEW YORK — A U.S. intelligence official has leaked a cache of secret slides that reveal details of the American military’s use of drones to assassinate suspected terrorists. The documents include suspicion that innocent people are regularly killed in the operations and that sometimes vague criteria are used to decide whom to target. The so-called […]

Categories
blog

Hillary Holds, Dilma Sinks, Sodom Found

U.S.-RUSSIA TALKS OVER SYRIA CAMPAIGNS U.S. and Russian officials are expected to meet today for a third round of talks to discuss safety procedures in their respective Syrian campaigns after what the BBC describes as a “near-miss” on Saturday. American and Russian warplanes were reportedly in visual contact and within miles of each other. According […]

Categories
Eyes on the U.S. Society

From Rebels To Republicans: The American Biker’s U-Turn

WASHINGTON — Tattoos dedicated to Lucifer, traces of alcohol and various drugs, lots of wounds: The recently unveiled autopsy report for the nine victims of a gunfight in Waco, Texas include all the elements needed to preserve the dark legend of American bikers. On Aug. 6, a week before the report went public, Republican Party […]

Categories
Eyes on the U.S. Geopolitics Syria Crisis

The Fiasco Of U.S. “Train And Equip” Against ISIS In Syria

ISTANBUL — The program to train and equip the “moderate opposition” in Syria, as long planned by the United States alongside Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, ended in utter failure. What led to this global diplomatic fiasco that has left the future of Syria looking so grim? The chain of problems began with the most […]

Categories
blog

Let Off Steam

Admiring the New Orleans skyline from a distance while listening to a jazz band … Both myself and my grandson were lucky enough to enjoy a cruise down the Mississippi on the steamboat Natchez — although 23 years apart.

Categories
blog

MSF Bombing “War Crime,” France Floods, First Nobel

TURKEY AIRSPACE VIOLATION AN “ERROR,” RUSSIA CLAIMS The violation of the Turkish airspace by a Russian warplane over the weekend was a “navigation error,” Moscow has told Ankara, according to Turkish military sources quoted by Hürriyet. Two Turkish F-16 jets intercepted a Russian SU-30 hundreds of meters into Turkey’s airspace, near the Syrian border, for […]

Categories
Eyes on the U.S. Ideas

Why Donald Trump Is Bound To Lose

-OpEd- WASHINGTON — I never expected to write these words, but I miss Mitt Romney. On Wednesday, the day the front-runner for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination was in New Hampshire alleging that Syrian refugees fleeing for their lives may actually be clandestine terrorists, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee was in Washington, talking sense. “Donald Trump will not be the nominee,” Romney told a group of business-school students at Georgetown University. And why won’t Trump, who, when he isn’t besmirching Syrian refugees as terrorists, is maligning Mexican immigrants as rapists, get the nod? Because, Romney said, “when all is said […]

Categories
blog

Russia’s Syria Plans, Angry Obama, Non-Neutral Anthem

RUSSIA’S SYRIA AIRSTRIKES TO LAST 3-4 MONTHS The Russian airstrike campaign in Syria could last three to four months, Alexey Pushkov, the head of the lower house of the Russian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, was quoted as saying Friday by the French radio station Europe 1. Pushkov, a close ally of Vladimir Putin, also said […]

Categories
Economy Ideas

Why Wall Street Wants Higher Interest Rates

-Analysis- NEW YORK — In the celebrated sci-fi comedy “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” a supercomputer determines that the answer to life, the Universe, and everything is the number 42. The really difficult task, however, is figuring out what the question was in the first place. Sometimes I feel like interest rate hikes are […]

Categories
Eyes on the U.S. Future Society

Big Pharma, Low Libido And The Rise Of Disease Mongering

The pharmaceutical industry looks to identify new diseases so it can push new drugs on the market, and patients play along. The approval of reduced female libido as a pathology is a case in point.

Categories
blog

Water On Mars, New Ocean Reserve, The World In NY

OBAMA AND PUTIN TALK SYRIA Photo: Klimentyev Mikhail/TASS/ZUMA Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin met Monday evening on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York to discuss the Syrian conflict and efforts to end it. “WATER ON MARS” FRONT PAGES Take a look at our collection of front pages from planet Earth […]

Categories
Future

“Water On Mars” Front Pages From Planet Earth

Plus, bonus coverage from the *celestial* hometown rag …

Categories
Geopolitics Society

The World Comes To New York

With the United Nations General Assembly meeting this week, heads of state and all the many faces of the world are filling the streets of New York. Take a tour!

Categories
blog

Catalonia Separatists Win, Obama To Meet Putin, Mars Mystery

SEPARATIST PARTIES WIN CATALONIA VOTE Pro-independence parties in the Spanish region of Catalonia won an absolute majority of legislative seats in regional elections yesterday that were seen as a de facto referendum on independence. Separatists see the landmark victory in the rich region as a clear mandate to break away from Spain, though they received […]

Categories
blog

Stampede Blame Game, Capped Carbon, iPad Robot

SAUDI ARABIA ORDERS STAMPEDE PROBE Saudi Arabia’s King Salman ordered a swift investigation and safety review after yesterday’s stampede during the annual Hajj Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca left at least 717 people dead and 863 hurt, Al Arabiya reports. VERBATIM Photo: Ron Sachs/CNP/ZUMA “Why are deadly weapons being sold to those who plan to inflict […]

Categories
Eyes on the U.S. Society

Buenos Aires To Philadelphia, A Family Road Trip To See Our Pope

This Argentine family decided a 13,000-mile trip in a VW van was the perfect way to see Pope Francis, their former archbishop. There were bumps along the way.

Categories
blog

Xi Jinping Begins U.S. Visit

People’s Daily, Sept. 23, 2015 “Xi Jinping begins U.S. visit” reads the front page of Chinese state-run People’s Daily Wednesday, together with a picture Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan waving upon their arrival in Seattle on Tuesday. The Chinese president’s seven-day visit, aimed at strengthening diplomatic and commercial ties with the […]

Categories
blog

Pope in U.S., Genocide Prediction, VW Scandal

POPE FRANCIS ARRIVES IN U.S. TODAY Photo: Ricky Fitchett/ZUMA After a four-day visit to Cuba, Pope Francis is scheduled to arrive in Washington, D.C., this afternoon for his first U.S. visit since becoming pontiff. He will meet with President Barack Obama tomorrow morning and address a joint meeting of Congress on Thursday. He and the […]

Categories
Society The Next Pope

Pope Francis, A Shrewd Political Leader Comes To Washington

Depending on his audience, the pontiff’s messages vary. On a historic visit to the U.S., President Obama and the whole world will be listening carefully.

Categories
blog

Tsipras Is Back, David Hameron, Emmy Firsts

TSIPRAS BACK AT THE HELM A “vindicated” Alexis Tsipras will return as prime minister of Greece after his Syriza party’s victory in yesterday’s election, Kathimerini reports. The liberal party won just over 35% of the vote, leaving the center-right New Democracy party behind with 28%. But Tsipras’ victory is less resounding than it was in […]

Categories
blog

Deadly Chile Quake, Croatia-Bound Refugees, Trump Trampled

5 DIE, MILLIONS EVACUATED IN CHILE QUAKE Chile has been walloped yet again, this time by an “8.4-magnitude earthquake in the central-north zone” of the country, Santiago daily La Tercera reported this morning. It happened last night near the city of Illapel. The government’s National Emergency Office (ONEMI) has so far confirmed five deaths, three […]

Categories
blog

Assad On Refugees, HP Layoffs, In Defense Of Late Risers

U.S. WORRIED OVER RUSSIAN BUILD-UP IN SYRIA U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov that Moscow’s continued support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “risks exacerbating and extending the conflict” amid growing concerns over reports of Moscow’s military build-up in Syria. Reuters reports that the Tuesday phone call between Kerry and […]

Categories
Geopolitics Society

Japanese Women v. Shinzo Abe

Japanese women are challenging the three-year-old Shinzo Abe government with “constitution cafes” and street protests.

Categories
blog

Merkel’s Refugee U-Turn, Jerusalem Clashes, First F-Bomb

GERMANY REINSTATES BORDER CONTROLS In an unexpected reversal of Germany refugee policy, the country has introduced temporary controls on its border with Austria and halted all cross-border train traffic with its neighbor. The decision to temporarily exit the Schengen open-border system comes after German regions said they could no longer cope with a record influx […]

Categories
blog

Russians In Syria, Migrant Quota, Trippy Seminar

EU UNVEILS “BOLD” MIGRANT QUOTA PLAN In his first State of the European Union speech, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker unveiled a plan to deal with the ongoing migrant crisis and urged EU member states to take “bold, determined action.” Among his proposals were the emergency relocation of 120,000 migrants now in Italy, Greece and […]

Categories
Future Geopolitics

How 2015 Mass Surveillance Compares To Orwell’s 1984 Big Brother

NSA-style monitoring of our ever-more digital lives is beyond even George Orwell’s disturbing vision. It’s also less effective in tracking the true enemies of the state.

Exit mobile version