As talk of peace negotiations appears and the Russia-Ukraine war rages on, recall the candlelight of Heroes Square, Budapest, Hungary, March 20, 2005. Now, as Christmastime 2022 arrives, is there hope for peace in the coming year?
Burgess Meredith, the actor, in a classic Rod Serling ‘Twilight Zone’ … Henry was in the vault when the Bombs hit …. the story becomes relevant again as Russian media reports bellicose nuclear threats to turn the U.S. into ‘radioactive ash’ … today, a foreboding calculus of nuclear weapons escalates far beyond the Russian-Ukraine war […]
On occasion an academic comes along and cuts thru the jargon to offer clear insight where most experts are running along usual tracks. In the case of explaining Russia’s war against Ukraine, here is an academic who cuts thru the jargon to explain what’s happened to Russia as its president ordered war. If Russia loses, […]
If decades of disastrous wars in the Mid/Near East aren’t enough for you… if U.S. forces based across the globe aren’t enough… if a Triad of 24/7/365 hair-trigger alert nuclear weapons aren’t enough, if the collapse of weapons control agreements and treaties aren’t enough then how about a Big Show on the 4th of July? […]
Not a walk in the park. Defense One; Foreign Affairs; TomDispatch. A taste of things to come as war plans shift to visions of full-spectrum conflict, strategic and tactical, cyber war, space war, AI war… China, Russia, the U.S. in a 21st century geo-political Great Game, all-too-real moves with new war systems, new nukes…
Looking back at a long week, we discuss DC experts, nuclear issues, and end with tracks across the Steppes This week witnessed a Republican candidate for President, Jeb Bush, announce he is his “own man”, not a legacy of his brother or father, then reveal Paul Wolfowitz as his foreign policy adviser. What a choice. […]
On the BZhRK rail missiles — and escalation The announcement of a re-introduction of nuclear missiles-on-rails brings another ratcheting up in a renewed Cold War even as the START Treaty is threatened and negotiations to downsize nuclear weapons slows — BZhRK pronounced berserk (From the Free Dictionary) : [ber-surk, -zurk]
We ‘drill down’ and ‘sideways’ as StratDem looks more closely at the geopolitical, strategic and market forces at work in the oil patch. The House of Saud, in particular, has taken OPEC in a new direction — and consequences are worldwide and considerable…
Oil Politics – Russia – Cyber Politics – China (& N Korea) ○ ○ ○ ○ The end of the calendar year traditionally calls for reflection about the past and hope for the future. This year we pause to consider a number of concerns and ‘keywords’ to keep front of mind…
Week in review opens with torture revelations and how IS-ISIL-Daesh-ISIS begat itself in Iraq prisons, then latest in petrol politics, Cheney’s last stand, then through the Caucuses to Russian moves and over to the UK, across the Atlantic to Peru, and across the Pacific to Japan, Korea, China — as the world turns…
Two weeks ago, we wrote of the Secretary of Defense and his last substantive decision — to ‘modernize’ the U.S. nuclear force… Now we examine the Pentagon’s next SecDef as he begins his journey to oversee the most powerful military force in history…
Let’s begin by looking again at the ongoing war in the Middle East and a man whose only son died in an Iraqi bombing – Andrew J Bacevich – and move on to petrol states and the new climate change conference. Let’s take a closer look … on December 1 with the end of Thanksgiving […]
This week, before the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. and beginning of the Christmas season, while the stock market is at historic highs and recent mid-term elections are producing after-election blues, vitriol, threats and increasingly polarized politics as the 2016 presidential election season arrives early…
China’s Zhuhai Air Show is a biennial opportunity for the Chinese government to roll out its next generation fighter planes, flex strategic-tactical muscle, and offer a mix of military weapons for the world’s markets… this is the tenth show officially endorsed by the central government…
Global futures: On the international stage, the players act — the big news is an energy agreement between the US and China, and Russia and China, a new ‘Cold War’, memories of old wars, negotiations to prevent future war, then more…
A week that was… Iran and P5+1 nuclear talks, world oil prices continue to fall, Putin talks Russian policy, Mideast politics, a flare up of words between the U.S. and Israel against backdrop of U.S. Congressional elections, Palestinian recognition, regional war update, petropolitics, China, energy policies, costs and alternatives, digital rights, and the Pope speaks […]
A week that was… Intel and Google, Hersh, father and son, Turks & Kurds, ISIS by any name, Israel & Palestine, the P5+1 negotiations with Iran, Facebook, China, Russia & oil, India & Pakistan, the Internet, surveillance and privacy, Ebola fears