Sirens wailing, rockets falling; jets screaming, bombs falling; explosions, many explosions; and death, many are dead. It’s an old, familiar story. BBC‘s Middle East correspondent, Jeremy Bowen, writes: “The fundamental reason for the renewed violence does not change. It is the ope[...]
Archive for the ‘Foreign Affairs’ Category
May 11th, 2021 - 5:34 pm § in Foreign Affairs, Israel/Palestine
Middle East: “The open wound of an unresolved conflict”
Is Democrats’ love affair with Israel over?
Democrats’ traditional support for Israel isn’t hard to figure out. For over a century, Jewish voters have overwhelmingly voted Democratic (see chart here). This held right up through the 2020 election; in fact, McCain in 2008 and Romney in 2012 did significantly better among this demogr[...]
Russian criminal gang behind pipeline hack
A Russian criminal gang was behind the ransomware attack that shut down a pipeline carrying half the U.S. East Coast’s fuel supply, media sources reported on Monday, May 10, 2021 (see NBC News story here). The pipeline remains shut down, and it’s unknown when it’ll come back on lin[...]
May 8th, 2021 - 2:26 pm § in Foreign Affairs, Religion
ISIS bombs Kabul girls’ school
“A bomb exploded near a girls’ school in a majority Shiite district of west Kabul on Saturday, killing at least 30 people, many of them young pupils between 11 and 15 years old,” NBC News reported on Saturday, May 8, 2021 (photo, left; read story here). The Taliban denied responsibilit[...]
Would the U.S. defend Taiwan?
Excerpted from a Vox article published on May 5, 2021 (read entire article here): “No American president has had to choose whether to go to war to defend Taiwan against a Chinese military invasion. President Joe Biden might have the decision thrust upon him. … “Should Xi follow thr[...]
May 2nd, 2021 - 10:12 pm § in China, Foreign Affairs
Should the Navy get a bigger slice of the defense pie?
That’s the argument of this article in Foreign Policy magazine. “[T]he challenges faced by the United States now and for the foreseeable future are maritime,” the author, a defense consultant and naval reserve officer says. Even Gen. Mark Milley, the chair of the joint chiefs, and [...]
After 99 days, what Biden told Congress
“Madam Speaker, the President of the United States!” “My fellow Americans, I’ve come to talk about rebuilding America …” POLITICS Partisan gridlock threatens democracy. America “did not flinch” when faced with insurrection. But democracy is being “tested” and “we have to prove[...]
U.K. is sending an aircraft carrier to the South China Sea
A British fleet that includes an aircraft carrier will sail in May to make port calls in 40 Asian-Pacific countries, CNN reported on Tuesday, April 27, 2021 (read story here). It’s a classic “show the flag” voyage designed to glad-hand friends, display military power, and test capa[...]
April 25th, 2021 - 11:41 am § in Foreign Affairs, Health
India’s “horrific” Covid-19 crisis
“A horrific surge in coronavirus cases in India continued on Saturday,” with daily cases soaring, which one commentator described as “not a curve or a wave. It’s a rocket. A straight vertical line.” (Read story here; see graph, click to enlarge.) Overwhelmed hospitals a[...]
Biden’s border strategy
While Republicans fulminate about the flood of refugees besieging the southern border, Biden — with Harris acting as his point person — wants to tackle the crises driving them to the border. “Harris and other administration officials on Thursday laid out a new approach to the regio[...]