Kofi Annan’s Syria deal spares Assad and is backed by China, Russia and Iran

Kofi Annan’s Syria deal spares Assad and is backed by China, Russia and Iran

John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Kofi Annan seems to have clinched a diplomatic deal in Damascus which may stop or at least decompress the debilitating year-long conflict in Syria which has taken 9,000 lives, mostly civilians. The former UN Secretary General in a bout of shuttle diplomacy has received approval from the Bashar Assad […]

Terror in France and the chilling prospect of sleeper cells also in the USA

Terror in France and the chilling prospect of sleeper cells also in the USA

John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — A spate of seven seemingly unexplained serial killings has shocked France with the uncomfortable realization that the specter of terrorism has not vanished. But the shootings of three soldiers and later, the calculated cold- blooded rampage at a Jewish school killing a rabbi and three children, turned the tragedy […]

Syria unravels: Russia and China stand by bloody regime, UN stands by

Syria unravels: Russia and China stand by bloody regime, UN stands by

John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — As the ongoing conflict in Syria churns out a ghastly humanitarian carnage, diplomatic efforts to halt the violence are shadowed by last year’s Libyan intervention, which morphed into a six month long military operation to topple a tyrant. So when the UN Security Council met again on Britain’s initiative […]

Laughter the best medicine for Montreal’s linguistic and cultural divide

Laughter the best medicine for Montreal’s linguistic and cultural divide

John J. Metzler MONTREAL — It’s takes a comedian to break the ice in the often frosty linguistic debate in Montreal, the cosmopolitan Canadian city where the French-speaking majority jealously and legally holds the linguistic high ground. So when an Indo/Canadian immigrant Samir “Sugar Sammy” Khullar brought a hilarious comedy show in Franglais, a mix […]

Sapped by its major ally China, Burma reaches out to the West and Japan

Sapped by its major ally China, Burma reaches out to the West and Japan

John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — In a world beset by war, ethnic conflict and humanitarian disasters, Burma seems one of those rare places where diplomats can say they are making a positive difference. Maybe that’s precisely because this Southeast Asian land, was until recently a pariah state, suffering from the self- inflicted wounds of […]

The UN General Assembly takes a stand, denounces Syrian regime

The UN General Assembly takes a stand, denounces Syrian regime

John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — In a political tsunami of condemnation, the General Assembly slammed Syria’s rulers for “widespread and systematic” human rights violations and demanded the Damascus regime cease the ongoing violence which has caused more than 6,000 lives during the past year of civil strife. Given the setting and the players amongst […]

Falklands redux: Where there’s oil, Hugo Chavez and Sean Penn, will there be fire?

Falklands redux: Where there’s oil, Hugo Chavez and Sean Penn, will there be fire?

John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Rhetorical gales from Argentina are again battering the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. And while the presumably noble sentiments of Argentine sovereignty blows over the windswept islands, just under the adjacent waters may sit massive petroleum deposits which would change the geopolitical calculations both for Britain and Argentina. […]

What reset? What Arab Spring? Veto of Syria resolution reminds world of its Russia-China problem

What reset? What Arab Spring? Veto of Syria resolution reminds world of its Russia-China problem

John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have lambasted Russia’s veto of a Security Council resolution on Syria, calling it a “travesty,” but did she really think for a moment that Moscow was going to ditch an old political ally? Did Hillary moreover really believe that Beijing was going to […]

Loud and clear signals from Egypt: Rules of its game with West have changed

Loud and clear signals from Egypt: Rules of its game with West have changed

John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — When the government of erstwhile U.S. ally Egypt shut down seventeen Western pro-democracy groups, trashed their Cairo offices, and slapped travel bans on some of their staff, political relations between Washington and Cairo hit a new and unexpected low. Just a year after a tumultuous political uprising topped the […]

State of the globe nothing to cheer about: UN report warns jobs crisis ignored, downturn looms

State of the globe nothing to cheer about: UN report warns jobs crisis ignored, downturn looms

John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — “Following two years of anemic and uneven recovery from the global financial crisis, the world economy is teetering on the brink of another major downturn.” That’s the sober assessment of a key UN report which warns that “output growth has already slowed considerably during 2011 and anemic growth is […]