Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler The ongoing Beijing Winter Olympics have averted our attention from a possible geopolitical clash of titans. As the Games progress under a mantle of Covid restrictions, controversy over China’s domestic political repression, and yes, the adrenaline thrill of a global sporting event, military forces are gathering in both […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler In a truly bizarre twist of international diplomacy which would have baffled even the denizens of Monty Python, the Islamic Republic of Iran whose UN membership dues were in arrears and thus barring the country’s General Assembly voting rights, was figuratively bailed out by an unlikely source, a […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler Russian tanks and mechanized infantry are churning dangerously close to Ukraine’s borders. Politicians are in overdrive trying to find new adjectives and soundbites to describe the combustible situation. Diplomats throughout Europe and the USA are trying to stop the clock on what’s presumed to be Russian President Vladimir […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler The global economy is hardly out of the woods yet. The resurgent Corona virus pandemic, coupled with labor shortages and an inflationary surge not seen in a generation, have served as an undertow to wider and sustainable economic growth. “The world is now two years into the COVID-19 […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler As the New Year brings hope and renewal, the tragic reality remains that the Covid-19 virus with all its deadly variants, continues to plague the planet now fully two years after the malady emerged from Wuhan, China. Thus, despite much justified optimism over wider vaccinations, the pandemic has […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler The political reverberations following America’s Afghanistan pullout debacle still shake the geopolitical landscape from Ukraine to the Taiwan Straits. But shall pending military calculations in Moscow and Beijing take advantage of a perceived power vacuum in the wake of the Afghan fiasco or will diplomacy deflect the sword […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler The Christmas Season is upon us. Seasonal cheer is everywhere. Christmas trees, wreaths and pine bunting abound. Lights and displays on stores and homes glisten reflecting the Advent joy as our weary world celebrates its second Covid Christmas. While there’s certainly cause for celebration and family gatherings, let’s […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler The thunderclap came on an early Sunday morning. Amidst the idyllic and serene Pacific setting of Hawaii, Imperial Japan launched a surprise and devastating carrier-based air attack on the U.S. fleet moored at Pearl Harbor, outside Honolulu. December 7, 1941 would be the date which would live in […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler When the Taliban forces overran Afghanistan a few months ago, not only did they capture a country continuously in conflict since the initial Soviet invasion in 1979, but they equally seized huge stockpiles of American supplied weapons provided to the defeated Afghan military. The unexplained and reckless U.S. […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler Following the Taliban’s lightning takeover of Afghanistan and America’s humiliating withdrawal, the remote South Asian country soon morphed into the political netherworld. The U.S. war was over, the Taliban Islamic fundamentalists had won, and the long-suffering Afghan people were relegated to the tragic club of conflict-wrecked countries that […]
