Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler, February 5, 2023 The lingering aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the widening war in Ukraine and the knock-on effects of food and energy shortages, alongside high inflation battered the world economy in 2022. Reflecting these grim realities, the UN has issued its annual World Economic Situation and Prospects […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler It’s seems like a profound contradiction; trying to convince Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities to accept foreign humanitarian help for their own starving population. Thus as beleaguered Afghan civilians endure a brutal winter, the sanctimonious Islamic fundamentalist regime in Kabul has largely restricted international aid agencies because they employ women. […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler There’s a significant sea change affecting Japanese defense policy. Some would say it’s the result of a political tsunami. Others would argue it’s a long overdue wake up call. After years of scrupulously keeping within the limits of its post-war constitution, and maintaining self-imposed norms of keeping military […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler It’s all about the timing. Ana Belen Montes, an American who served a more than twenty years in federal prison for spying for the then-Castro regime while serving as a senior analyst in the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in Washington, has been released. But this case is hardly […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler It’s that time of year to gaze into the crystal snow globe and try to see the stories on the horizon which will affect the New Year. Our world remains an increasingly tumultuous place and the tragedy of expanding conflicts is only surpassed by the waves of refugees […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler In a hugely symbolic but stinging rebuke, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been expelled from the UN’s Commission on Women’s Rights. The vote in the 54-member Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) came amid growing global outrage at the Iranian regime’s brutal and bloody crackdown on widening demonstrations […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler A powerful wind from the East is blowing across the Arabian desert. During a significant but overlooked three-day visit to Saudi Arabia, China’s leader Xi Jinping has scored a “strategic partnership” with oil rich and strategic Saudi Arabia. For China in its presumably post-COVID era, the focus remains […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler The fix is in. During the Thanksgiving holiday, the Biden Administration announced it was quietly reversing policy and allowing limited petroleum imports from Venezuela. The Treasury Department lifted restrictions permitting a six-month deal to ease sanctions so that Chevron petroleum may buy and then ship Venezuelan crude oil […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Commentary by John J. Metzler North Korea’s petulant and isolated regime wants attention. It’s thirty-something Dictator Kim Jong-Un vies for the noxious notoriety which much of the world has focused on Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine or Xi Jinping’s military threats to Taiwan. Poor Kim had his fire and fury moment back […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler The women’s led uprising against Iran’s Islamic Republic continues. Under the inspiring slogan Woman, Life, Freedom, the movement confronting Teheran’s theocratic regime is widening and now had gained vital political support from key Western countries many of whom long rationalized their political and business links with Iran. Nationwide […]
