Section: The Huffington Post (USA)
What Berlin (and Brussels) Can Teach Cairo and Washington
What do the fall of the Berlin Wall and the biggest US trade mission to Egypt have in common? Apparently nothing; in reality quite a lot. The New York Times recently criticized the State Department for organizing the largest trade mission to Egypt while the local government was cracking its citizens’ liberties. True, El Sisi’s...
Crumbling of Oil Prices Make Russia and China Closer
Co-authored by William Witenberg a contemporary artist focused on abstract painting As the price of oil crumbles, declining over 25% since June, the consequences on the Russian economy have been drastic. What American and European sanctions (brought as a result of the annexation of Crimea) and the Ukraine crisis failed to do to the Russian...
Ukraine Warns Of A Worsening Security Situation
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine says the security situation in rebel-held areas in the east has steadily worsened as separatist fighters move closer to demarcation lines separating them from government forces. A cease-fire agreed on in September between rebels and Ukraine’s government has in effect been rendered invalid as intense hostilities...
The Sino-Russia Partnership Is Stronger Than the West Thinks
WASHINGTON — Some American pundits are calling for new overtures by the West that would distance China from Russia. In Japan, voices are urging the government to step up diplomacy with Russia to draw it away from China. In these appeals we can discern an assumption that divergent national interests leave either Moscow or Beijing susceptible...
The United States Should Give China Breathing Room to Rise Peacefully
As President Obama visited China, he insisted that the United States welcomed China’s rise and wanted that country to play a bigger role in regional and global affairs; but that rhetoric is largely hokum. The United States has been either the premier superpower or the only superpower in the world since World War II, exercising an outsize...
Europe Faces Winter on the Edge of the Abyss
There is another world crisis brewing — and one for which President Obama cannot be blamed. The Europeans have made a mess of things, and now the wolves are at the door. The first snarling wolf is deflation. Europe’s economies are so weak, so close to recession, that the very real danger of deflation — falling prices — has...
Brzezinski: Why We Need a U.S.-China ‘Pacific Charter’ for Global Stability
In Beijing on Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama called on China to be a “partner in underwriting the international order” instead of “undermining” it. One key American strategist, Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was national security adviser to U.S. President Jimmy Carter, is strongly promoting the idea that Obama’s...
Obama, Vladimir Putin Speak Briefly On Beijing Summit Sidelines
(Adds Russian comment, background) BEIJING, Nov 10 (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke briefly on the sidelines of APEC summit events on Monday night but did not delve into the issues that divide their two countries, according to U.S. and Russian officials. The informal contact between the two...
Missing from the Berlin Wall Celebration — Two Leaders Who Died Too Soon
As the world marks the 25th anniversary of freedom returning to Eastern Europe, it is sad that two of the wisest post-communist leaders are no longer with us. In the extraordinary events that followed the collapse of the Berlin Wall, Poland was the inspiration. It had elected a non-communist government months before the wall came down. Lech...
Putin Blames Ukraine For Obstructing Flight MH17 Inquiry
BEIJING, Nov 10 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday accused Ukraine’s government of interfering with the investigation into the downing of a Malaysia Airlines jet in July that killed 298 people. Independent investigators have had little access to the wreckage of flight MH17 in territory in eastern Ukraine in the...
