Special to WorldTribune.com By Dr Joan Vernikos, Space Correspondent, GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s) new White Paper on the next five years of its space strategy, released by the China National Space Administration on Dec. 27, 2016, raised new questions about the economic and natural-resource goals of space exploration, and […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Jonathan Alexander, GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs The “Great Intra-Muslim War” — which began with the split within the jihadist movement after the death of Osama bin Laden — seems set to resume its intensity. It had become lost in the major wars in Syria and Iraq, and in the civil war […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs staff in Ankara and Washinngton, D.C. Turkish President Reçep Tayyip Erdoğan has moved rapidly to recapture U.S. strategic support by wooing the incoming U.S. Administration of President-elect Donald J. Trump. President Erdoğan is attempting to stem Turkish economic collapse, Turkish expulsion from NATO, and total rejection of Turkey […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Gregory R. Copley, Editor, GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs The Dec. 2, telephone conversation between Republic of China (ROC: Taiwan) President Tsai Ing-wen and U.S. President-elect Donald J. Trump very deliberately ushered in a new era in U.S. engagement in Asia, one designed to stop the rapid decline in U.S. credibility and […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Gregory R. Copley, Editor, GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs U.S. President-elect Donald J. Trump in many ways faces the most circumscribed strategic options of any modern U.S. President entering office. Not only has the global context changed — and will change rapidly even further — so also has the United States’ abilities, […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs Significant, and largely-unnoticed, changes, with long-term consequences, were being made in U.S. military commitments in the Middle East as the U.S. political system was preoccupied with the Nov. 8, election process. Outgoing President Barack Obama had initiated processes to attempt to commit the U.S. to comprehensive military […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By By Benjamin Lawler, Editor, GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs How did Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos Calderón of Colombia so miscalculate popular Colombian voter sentiment regarding the peace process which he negotiated over years of effort with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC)? The long-awaited Sept. 26, 2016, peace accord signing […]
Special to WorldTribune.com GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs Can the United States recover its position in East Asia and the Indo-Pacific, or has the tide turned, isolating Washington’s support base in the region? Growing evidence now points to the reality that the last major summit attendance of U.S. President Barack Obama — the G20 Leaders’ Summit […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Gregory R. Copley, Editor, GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs Revelations that the People’s Republic of China was developing a next-generation, long- range strategic bomber and a so-called sixth- generation fighter aircraft should have come as no surprise to Western defense leaders. The news has, however, been met with skepticism and incredulity. And […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Gregory R. Copley, Editor, GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs Few U.S. Presidential election campaigns have been so heavily dominated by extreme, partisan propaganda — and so lacking in substance — as the campaign of 2016. The goal of the outgoing Administration and its designated successor, Hillary Clinton, has been to ensure complete […]
