by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) Bob Woodward’s book and the ‘resistance’ op-ed look increasingly like a sophisticated psy-ops scheme and a prelude for a ‘Deep State’ coup We now live in a psy-ops world. The latest Deep Throat War in Washington bears all the elements of an epic of the genre. Fear: Trump in the White House, by Bob Woodward, who remains
by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) When China calls, all Africa answers. And Beijing’s non-politicization of investments and non-interference in internal affairs is paying off big time The dogs of war – cold, hot, trade, tariffs – bark while the Chinese caravan plies the New Silk Roads. Call it a leitmotif of the young 21st century. At the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation
by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with Consortium News by special agreement with the author) Get ready for a major geopolitical chessboard rumble: from now on, every butterfly fluttering its wings and setting off a tornado directly connects to the battle between Eurasia integration and Western sanctions as foreign policy. It is the paradigm shift of China’s New Silk Roads versus America’s Our Way or the Highway. We used to be under
by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) Trump’s solo act can’t compete with the hard rock presidents from the electric east Those were the days, during the Cold War 1960s and 1970s, when the earth was actually ruled by rock supergroups – from Cream and Led Zeppelin to Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Welcome back my friends to the show that never
by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) The five states surrounding the sea – Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan – have reached difficult compromises on sovereign and exclusive rights as well as freedom of navigation The long-awaited deal on the legal status of the Caspian Sea signed on Sunday in the Kazakh port of Aktau is a defining moment in the ongoing,
by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) Rhetorical war has far-reaching consequences, including a potential economic slump via the disruption of global oil supplies The key take away from the BRICS summit in Johannesburg is that Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – important Global South players – strongly condemn unilateralism and protectionism. The Johannesburg Declaration is unmistakable: “We recognize that the
by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) The Trump administration’s ultimate goal is regime change in Tehran, but was this just a distraction from the ‘treason’ in Helsinki as US Mid-Term elections loom? Or did he just want to destabilize the Eurasian giants and their New Silk Roads? President Trump’s late-night, all-caps Tweet of Mass Destruction threatening Iran is bound to be enshrined in
by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) US President stirs up a hornet’s nest with his press conference alongside his Russian counterpart, but it seems that no ‘grand bargain’ was struck on Syria, and on Iran they appear to strongly disagree. “The Cold War is a thing of the past.” By the time President Putin said as much during preliminary remarks at his
by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) The US President’s blitzkrieg at the Brussels summit, calling NATO obsolete and for member states to boost spending to defend themselves is correct. Hysteria is at fever pitch. After the NATO summit in Brussels, the definitive Decline of the West has been declared a done deal as President Trump gets ready to meet President Putin in
by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) The tariff tussle that began today is linked to Beijing’s ambitious ‘Made in China 2025’ and Belt and Road strategies, which will transform the global economic and geopolitical landscape; this rivalry could last for decades, some experts have said Way beyond the first midnight shot in what could possibly turn into a vicious trade war, the
by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) Major states buying oil from Iran are unlikely to heed the US call to drop imports; key allies want a waiver to avoid sanctions; OPEC, meanwhile, will have trouble boosting output in the short-term; the puzzle is not solved, but there are dark clouds History may have registered stranger geoeconomic bedfellows. But in the current OPEC-plus
by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) Erdogan has lost his parliamentary majority and must now establish a coalition with the far-right Nationalist Action Party; given the latter is anti-Western, the road ahead points in only one direction: Eurasian integration To the utter despair of stoic defenders of “Western values,” Europe is now condemned to suffer two populist autocracies on its eastern borders:
by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo knows the importance of rare earth elements, and North Korea has reportedly found one of the world’s biggest deposits 150km from Pyongyang; is this another factor behind the recent thaw with the US? This may not be about condos on North Korean beaches after all. Arguably, the heart of the matter
Note: the interview in English begins after a 60 seconds into in Serbian.
by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) By reaffirming the Panmunjom Declaration, the US President has committed to bringing its military back from South Korea and thus a complete denuclearization of the South as well as the North The Trump-Kim geopolitical reality-TV show – surreal for some – offered unparalleled entries to the annals of international diplomacy. It will be tough to upstage
by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) East vs. West: the contrast between the “dueling summits” this weekend was something for the history books. All hell broke loose at the G6+1, otherwise known as G7, in La Malbaie, Canada, while all focused on divine Eurasian integration at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in China’s Qingdao in Shandong, the home province of Confucius. US
by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) Key economic forums in cities across Eurasia point the way to new power structures rising to challenge Western dominance Ahead of the crucial Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Qingdao this coming weekend, three other recent events have offered clues on how the new world order is coming about. The Astana Economic Forum in Kazakhstan centered
by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) Iranian academic spells out Iran’s position in the Middle East and questions US policy toward the region; amid reports that the Qods force is unlikely to disband, and that Daesh (ISIS) is being moved the Afghanistan-Pakistan border A crucial question has been consuming policymakers in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon: Does the Trump administration have a
by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) While the dogs of war bark, the Ancient – and New – Silk Road goes on forever and a civilization with a long and proud history gets on with life The minute you set foot in the streets of Mashhad, the air smelling of saffron, a fine breeze oozing from the mountains, it hits you; you’re
by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) Iran is considering conducting all trade in euro and yuan amid uncertainty over whether Brussels can challenge the dominance of US law and prevent possible sanctions The Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), has monopolized the highest levels of government in Tehran around the clock
