Special to WorldTribune.com by Dr. Jack Caravelli, Geostrategy-Direct Russian president Vladimir Putin’s use of Russian conventional forces to destabilize Ukraine and prop up Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime certainly got the attention of Western analysts and policy makers. But now, Russia’s nuclear forces are undergoing dramatic modernization. Russia’s strategic modernization march has been impressive, including […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, EastAsiaIntel.com Remember the “One Belt One Road” (OBOR), a multi-trillion-dollar intercontinental project that underpins President Xi Jinping’s ambition to catapult China to super-power status? The “Silk Road Economic Belt” links China with Central Asia, Turkey and all the way to Eastern Europe through a series of high-speed railways, highways […]
Special to WorldTribune.com by Geostrategy-Direct Chinese PLA’s chief of staff has officially proposed a Central Asia military alliance that excludes Russia. The proposal was advanced by Gen. Fang Fenghui last month in Kabul, Afghanistan. President Ashraf Ghani spoke positively about the proposal after Gen. Fang promised $70 million in military aid. Beside China and Afghanistan, […]
Special to WorldTribune.com by Dr. Jack Caravelli, Geostrategy-Direct The successful March 22 terrorist attacks on the Brussels airport and a city subway station add to Europe’s growing list of cities — including Paris, London and Copenhagen — unable to deflect such attacks. The terrorists appear to have been four young men with Middle Eastern backgrounds […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, EastAsiaIntel.com The apparent leitmotif of this year’s meeting of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the top advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), consists of ways and means to resuscitate the Chinese economy. However, political issues – particularly differences among members of the Politburo Standing Committee […]
Special to WorldTribune.com by Dr. Jack Caravelli, Geostrategy-Direct In another example of the Obama administration’s unwillingness to delegate authority and its inability to form a cohesive policy on fighting ISIL, Secretary of State John Kerry has publicly contradicted the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford. Kerry has laid out U.S. strategy […]
Special to WorldTribune.com by Dr. Jack Caravelli, Geostrategy-Direct Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, met in Paris on Jan. 22 with his French counterpart, Gen. Pierre de Villiers, chief of France’s defense staff to discuss planning for a joint operation against Islamic jihadists operating in Libya. The two military leaders […]
Special to WorldTribune.com by Dr. Jack Caravelli, Geostrategy-Direct Dore Gold, the Director General of Israel’s foreign ministry and a highly experienced diplomat, in late December gave the ministry’s first ever interview to a Saudi media outlet. Speaking to the Saudi-owned online newspaper Elaph, Gold emphasized the common interests Israel and Saudi Arabia have in blunting […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Dr. Willy Lam, EastAsiaIntel.com Efforts by the Xi Jinping administration to suppress embarrassing stories about his career in Fujian Province in the late 1980s and 1990s were behind two of the most brazen overseas acts of Chinese state-security agents. In October this year, four Chinese state-security agents kidnapped Hong Kong-based publisher […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Geostrategy-Direct.com The Arrow-3 ballistic missile system successfully intercepted a missile outside of the Earth’s atmosphere, according to the Israeli Defense Ministry. In the Dec. 10 test, the ministry said the Arrow-3 system targeted, tracked and destroyed a missile meant to simulate an Iranian long-range projectile. Program officials said that “the system had […]