Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com The spectacle of mass migrations is a permanent phenomenon of our times. Images of refugees risking lives to escape oppressive regimes, starvation, war and mayhem are embedded in our subconscious. Think of the thousands who escaped from Vietnam after the defeat of the American-backed Saigon regime, fleeing across […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com Here’s a twist on the shifting course of the recent military history of the region. The Philippines and Vietnam are about to become “strategic partners” in common cause against, yes, the Chinese. For those who may have forgotten, the U.S., having ruled the Philippines for nearly half a […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — The scenes of Syrians fleeing their homeland and pouring on to the roads and rail links of Greece and the Balkans create an almost Biblical image. Exodus comes to mind. Not since WWII have such a large surge of refugees fleeing civil war and conflict, […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Sol W. Sanders The announcement that four American soldiers were wounded on the Egyptian-Gaza border, and although not life threatening, have been evacuated is another sign of how far out of step U.S. policies and strategies are in the region. The four Americans are part of a small, ill-equipped, and superannuated UN […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com China’s big show in Beijing is over, but its impact may not be as deep and far-reaching as forecast and hoped for. The soldiers have pranced around Tiananmen Square, the planes have swept overhead and President Xi Jinping has basked in glory 70 years after the defeat of […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — The reverberations of China’s economic jolt are being felt worldwide from New York, to London, Frankfurt and Tokyo. It’s the fear of a slowdown in the once-supercharged Chinese economy which has sent the country’s Shanghai Index market into a tailspin down over 20 percent in […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Sol W. Sanders Once NATO’s formidable eastern anchor, Turkey is increasingly becoming a major problem for Washington policymakers and a contributor to the Mideast chaos. The change is all the remarkable since at the outset of the Obama Administration, the President saw then Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as one of […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Syria continues to descend into the inferno while the international community stands transfixed. A political solution seems elusive as ever, the civil war grinds on having killed over 250,000 people, and more than twelve million people have fled their homeland. Alarmed by these developments, the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — Maybe Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, should have kept his mouth shut. No matter what he might have said on the 70th anniversary of the Japanese surrender, he would be the target of intensive criticism. The fact is the Japanese are done with apologizing for World […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — The looming 70th anniversary of the Japanese surrender and Korea’s ”liberation” reminds us of the dangers of new wars in a region where peace may be a fleeting phenomenon. North Korea, writhing under the humiliation of the failure of “Great Leader” Kim Il-Sung’s invasion of the […]