Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — In the wake of Iranian initiated missile/drone attacks which significantly crippled the Saudi Arabian petroleum industry and threatened to bring the Persian Gulf region closer to the brink of a military confrontation, the Trump Administration and its allies have pursued a tough but decidedly restrained […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Presidents, Prime Ministers, and Potentates are assembling in New York for the 74th General Assembly. During this annual rite of Autumn, delegations from the UN’s 193 member states shall debate, discuss and hopefully find some common ground on a plethora of global crises ranging from […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Simmering tensions in the Persian Gulf, resumed uranium enrichment programs, and supporting proxy military operations in Syria’s civil conflict and Yemen headline the current impasse between the West and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Add the diplomatic deadlock in the wake of the United States […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Despite its territorial defeat in Syria and facing setbacks in Iraq and elsewhere throughout the Middle East, the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) is not yet beaten as a terrorist organization. That’s the grim but realistic assessment of the UN’s Counter-terrorism Chief Vladimir Voronkov who […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler New York — It’s the summer silly season in the media; see what purports to be serious news from the eternal campaigning for the Iowa Caucuses, to bizarre Washington antics. And then, there’s the wildest of all: Donald Trump wants to buy Greenland! Given that most of the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler PARIS — It’s never polite to question the deteriorating human rights situation in China but let’s do it anyway. The hidden and systematic repression of ethnic Uighur Muslims in China’s western Xinjiang province and the high profile crackdown on pro-demonstrators in Hong Kong, many of them Christian, are […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler PARIS — A long linguistic battle between French and English appears to have been settled; English won. Some twenty-five years after legislation to specifically defend use of the French language, and protect its patrimony throughout the land, what’s known as the Toubon law has become a quaint footnote. […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler PARIS — A Summer heatwave has enveloped the French capital in a blanket of dry heat. Following a Winter and Spring of churning discontent from the Yellow Vests, Gilet Jaunes, anti-government demonstrations, the current vacation season should have come as a welcome respite to the protest weary French. […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler Bondville, VT — For those of us of a certain age, we vividly remember where we were on July 20, 1969 the date of America’s successful Lunar landing. On a cool July southern Vermont evening my parents and I visited friends to watch what was expected to be […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — In a stunningly stark report on the political and economic conditions in Venezuela, the UN’s Human Rights chief Michelle Bachelet, outlined a troubling litany of continuing human rights abuses, extrajudicial killings, and economic privations characterizing the besieged Latin American country. The groundbreaking report by the […]
