Author: Christine Schier

The four-hour meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, that took place Nov. 15 on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, reestablished lines of communication at various levels between the two countries, which had been frayed and even broken during the period of growing tensions of the last few years. The summit had […]

With the Iowa caucuses, which mark the official beginning of the 2024 presidential campaign, less than two months away, the news for the Democrats has not been good. Poll after poll shows President Biden trailing Donald Trump, who is the likely Republican nominee, even though he faces 91 criminal charges in four upcoming trials. While the polls are close, the […]

Germany’s Constitutional Court ruled on Nov. 15 that the government’s decision of one year ago to shift non-used funds earmarked for compensation of Covid-related losses to the Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF) violates the constitutional clause on the “debt brake”, and is therefore illegal. This leaves the Berlin government with a financial hole of €60 billion for its over-ambitious climate-related […]

The Swedish government published last week a roadmap for the construction of new nuclear power reactors – two by 2035, and another eight by 2045– with projected government credit guarantees of 400 billion crowns (€35 billion). The roadmap is intended to enter into legal force by January 1, 2024. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Energy, Business and Industry Ebba […]

Libertarian extremist Javier Milei of the Freedom Advances party (LLA) came away with a big win in Argentina’s Nov. 19 run-off presidential elections, defeating Sergio Massa of the ruling Union for the Fatherland (UxP) coalition 56%-44%. This was a rout for Massa and represented a resounding condemnation of the government of Alberto Fernandez, who failed to follow through on any […]

In last week’s issue, we covered the successful conference on the reconstruction of Afghanistan, organized by the Ibn Sina Research and Development Center in Kabul Nov. 6-8. An envoy of the Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano, who was at that conference, reported on it in the Nov. 19 edition. He describes the reality of the new Afghanistan in terms quite […]

The situation on the ground in Southwest Asia has dramatically worsened over the past days. Israeli forces have escalated their operations, bombing innocent Palestinian children and civilians under the protective umbrella provided by the United States, and the West as a whole. At the same time, fighting between Israel and Hezbollah intensified, with Israeli airstrikes deeper into southern Lebanon, and […]

Clearly, the Biden Administration is the one government in the world (outside of Netanyahu’s) that could move the most decisively to ensure a ceasefire in Gaza and put an end to the carnage. The Administration has repeatedly refused to do so, completely blowing the cover off “Western values” and morality. In the United States at large, however, opposition to the […]

As the man-made induced de-industralization of Europe is advancing in leaps and bounds, the tide is turning on Ursula von der Leyen’s insane “Green Deal” policy. While the political earthquake in Germany’s key state of Hesse may be a harbinger of things to come in Berlin (cf. below), other pieces of the EU green agenda are also falling apart. * […]

Ever since the drastic losses for the Greens, SPD and FDP in the state parliament elections of Bavaria and Hesse on Oct. 8, analysts have been speculating about the inevitable consequences it would have on the federal government, a coalition of the same three parties. Talk has been rife of a cabinet reshuffle, and even a replacement of the coalition […]