Eurasian Heartland Rises to Challenge the West

Pepe Escobar President Xi Jinping telling President Putin at the end of their summit last March in Moscow that we’re now facing “great changes not seen in a century” directly applies to the new spirit reigning across the Heartland. Cue to the China-Central Asia summit last week in Xian, the former imperial capital, where Xi…

The Inside Story of Russia-Iran-India Connectivity

Pepe Escobar The G7 is stupefied by the dynamic progress of the multipolar order embodied by the Russian-led INSTC and the Chinese-led BRI, with Iran’s strategic port of Chabahar now poised to play a transformative role. Make no mistake about what the G7’s Hiroshima Communique is all about. The setting: a city in neo-colony Japan nuclear-bombed 78 years…

The Splendor of a Thousand Suns: Hiroshima and Imperial Forgetfulness

Gonzalo Armúa Underwater atomic test carried out at Bikini Atoll in 1946. Photograph: United States Government Navy Joe Biden’s visit to Hiroshima in the framework of the G7 once again brings to the surface the cynical memory of an empire that 78 years ago unleashed the power of “a thousand suns” on a defenseless population….

Russia in Latin America: Putting an End to Washington’s Hegemony

Pablo Jofre Leal Today, in the international concert, the United States and its allies seek to counteract the growing influence of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China in Africa, Asia and Latin America. This, in terms of concretizing a vision and practice of a multilateral policy that breaks with the hegemony that…

Africa Rising: Nkosi Mandela on South Africa Resisting Israeli Apartheid

Mnar Adley In 1999, South African anti-apartheid activist and revolutionary leader Nelson Mandela visited Gaza and said, “We know too well our freedom is not complete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” Since his death in 2013, Mandela’s unifying message of decolonization reverberated across the globe. The anti-colonial, anti-apartheid struggle that he led to end…

Elections in Türkiye: Challenges Facing Erdogan

Yoselina Guevara López On May 14, Türkiye will hold presidential and parliamentary elections in which citizens will elect the new president of the country and the 600 deputies of the Turkish Grand National Assembly. The head of state will be elected in the first round only if he/she reaches 50%+1 of the votes; otherwise, the…

Bold Gambits on the West Asian Chessboard

Pepe Escobar In the Great Power competition, everything is connected: Uncertain negotiations between Russia and NATO over Ukraine may be impacted by Turkiye’s post-election pivot and Syria’s return to the Arab League West Asia is a region that is currently experiencing a great deal of geopolitical activity. Recent diplomatic efforts, initiated by Russia and overseen…

Will SCO Become New United Nations for Non-Western World?

Ekaterina Blinova The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a Eurasian political, economic, and security bloc founded in 2001, has great potential to become a United Nations for the non-Western world, according to Robinder Sachdev, geopolitical and economic diplomacy analyst and founder president of the Imagindia Institute. The two-day summit of the SCO foreign ministers kicked off…

Russian Oil Floods Global Markets via Major Asian Intermediaries

F.M. Shakil Despite western sanctions, there is more Russian fuel being exported around the world than before the Ukraine crisis. It’s just coming via Saudi Arabia, India, China, and other trading states – with steep commissions. Despite western sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukraine conflict, some Asian and specifically West Asian economies are importing significant…

Conflict in Sudan: International Implications

Yoselina Guevara López Violence in Sudan continues to rage and is unlikely to abate. Since April 13, the country has become a battlefield between rival armed factions; on the one hand the Sudanese army, led by General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and on the other the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a powerful paramilitary group led by…

Sudan: Alignment of Forces, Players

M. K. Bhadrakumar People fleeing fighting in Khartoum, Sudan, April 19, 2023 The worst-case scenario is coming to pass, apparently, in Sudan. That is, at any rate, the apocalyptic message streaming out of Khartoum in the western media. President Biden lent credence to the alarmist perception by confirming that on his orders, the US military…

9/11 Hijackers Were CIA Recruits

Kit Klarenberg At least two 9/11 hijackers had been recruited into a joint CIA-Saudi intelligence operation that was covered up at the highest level, according to an explosive new court filing. A newly-released court filing raises grave questions about the relationship between Alec Station, a CIA unit set up to track Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden…

US Flexes Muscle in Persian Gulf, to No Avail

MK Bhadrakumar A panicked US tries to insert itself into West Asia’s tsunami of political, economic, and diplomatic shifts, but is anybody listening? Three ominous US-related developments last week grate against the overall easing of tensions in the West Asian region: Firstly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s phone call on Tuesday to UAE President Mohamed bin…

Iran and Saudi Arabia: A Chinese Win-Win

Pepe Escobar The single Iranian-Saudi handshake buried trillions of dollars of western divide-and-rule investments across West Asia, and has global leaders rushing to Beijing for global solutions. The idea that History has an endpoint, as promoted by clueless neoconservatives in the unipolar 1990s, is flawed, as it is in an endless process of renewal. The recent official meeting between…

US Sees in Finland’s NATO Accession the Encirclement of Russia

M. K. Bhadrakumar Foreign minister Pekka Haavisto (L) hands over Finland’s NATO accession document to US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, as secretary-general Stoltenberg looks on, Brussels, 4 Apr 2023 The national flag of Finland was raised for the first time at the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation in Brussels on Tuesday, which…

Canada: The Case Against Iran Sanctions

Greg ShupakA mural in the holy city of Qom depicts Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, on the left and Ali Khamenei, the current Supreme Leader of Iran, on the right. Photo by David Stanley “We hear the pleas of the Iranian people and we commend them for their bravery and resilience,” Minister…