Potentially explosive movements on a volatile Asian chessboard

Potentially explosive movements on a volatile Asian chessboard

Sol W. Sanders A new era of increasing instability is opening in East Asia. The death of North Korean leader Kim Il-Jong is only adding another, if explosive, element to an already volatile equation: China enters a period of substantially slower economic growth, if not a crash, on the eve next autumn of a takeover […]

Drastic fixes for critical crises or dodgy compromises for bumps in the road?

Drastic fixes for critical crises or dodgy compromises for bumps in the road?

Sol W. Sanders “Moderation in all things”, said a pre-Christian North African Roman dramatist, Terence [Publius Terentius Afer]. But like so many artists, he latched on to a beautiful artifact but got the logic wrong. He’s echoed these days in the oft repeated mantra from talking heads calling for compromise. It usually follows a description […]

N.Y. Times: ‘Modest’ global tax is cool with almost everyone except U.S. taxpayers

N.Y. Times: ‘Modest’ global tax is cool with almost everyone except U.S. taxpayers

Special to WorldTribune.com Based on an article by Cliff Kincaid for Accuracy in Media A New York Times story about a “modest” global tax mentions some of those supporting the idea but forgets an important one — the United Nations. At a Nov. 30 U.N.-sponsored conference in Washington, D.C., officials of the U.N. Development Program […]

And China was going to save the global economy? Guess again

And China was going to save the global economy? Guess again

Sol W. Sanders Creeping up on the outer edges of Wall Street soothsayers’ economic crystal ball, until now dominated by American and Euro crises, is growing concern about China. The inane idea China [and India, which is also in trouble] would somehow rescue the world economy is now, finally, dismissed by the pundits — without […]

Mesmerized by its enemies: U.S. spends trillions of petrodollars to nurture a virulent culture of hate

Mesmerized by its enemies: U.S. spends trillions of petrodollars to nurture a virulent culture of hate

Sol W. Sanders For those who lived through the World War II prelude and the Cold War, the current American dilemma dealing with Islam is all too familiar. To the extent historical analogies are valid, countering Islamic radical infiltration resembles nothing so much as a century of struggle against Communism before the Soviet Union, as […]

Question not on big media’s radar screen: How will America be impacted by the growing EU crisis?

Question not on big media’s radar screen: How will America be impacted by the growing EU crisis?

Sol W. Sanders An old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times”, has become a bromide. I suspect those old Chinese savants were smarter: Confucius [and his St. Paul, Mencius] codified rules and ceremonies for all princes for all eternity, undoubtedly suspecting, rightfully, all eras would have many if not most of the same […]

It’s only words: With Asian tour, Obama tries to change the subject

It’s only words: With Asian tour, Obama tries to change the subject

Sol W. Sanders The Obama Administration is trying to turn a historical page. The president’s current Pacific tour is promoted as “a return to Asia”, an acknowledgment of its rapidly growing economies, and, of course, recognition of China as a world power. History has a way of dictating its own terms, however. [When asked what […]

History of the Euro crisis: What happens when the center no longer holds?

History of the Euro crisis: What happens when the center no longer holds?

Sol W. Sanders The kaleidoscope of events and mock-events is moving so rapidly in the European crisis, even a dedicated netizen following events finds himself bemused. It might be good to look at a little history: The European effort to unify — after two bloody civil wars of near annihilation and the post-World War II […]

The Euro is dead, long live the euro!

The Euro is dead, long live the euro!

Sol W. Sanders In the spring of 1947, I was on deck as one of that dying breed of transatlantic liners was tugged into Le Havre. Despite decades of experience there was incredible confusion as French stevedores hassled over tying up ropes. A rail companion, a French Jewish refugee returning from American wartime refuge, declaimed, […]

Boom! Welcome to the shale gas revolution

Boom! Welcome to the shale gas revolution

Sol W. Sanders While the Obama Administration has been busy lining the pockets of its campaign contributors with solar power handouts, an energy revolution is taking place even the Washington Luddites and GOSplanners can’t buck. American technology, borrowing offshore deep-water drilling techniques, has started exploiting huge deposits of natural gas buried deep in the earth […]