Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
International sports may be thriving, but can they still deliver the unity global diplomacy keeps failing to achieve? From Trump’s World Cup meddling to Putin’s Olympic exile, iPINIONS explores how sports remain the world’s last honest broker — even as everything else burns. Read it now on Substack:https://ipinionsdaily.substack.com/p/the-last-diplomat-standing-can-sports Read more.
APEC delivers humiliating farewell for Biden As APEC host, Peru’s president relegated Biden to the back row for the customary “family photo” at last week’s summit. The snub evoked global schadenfreude that bordered on elder abuse. I doubt any president has ever faced such humiliation on the world stage. Mind you, Trump is roughly the… Read more.
Russia calls in North Korean cavalry Russia has been waging a genocidal war in Ukraine for nearly three years. Now it’s bogged down. In fact, Russian troops are so beleaguered that President Putin has reportedly bartered with fellow pariah Kim Jong-un for North Korean reinforcements. Kim offered tens of thousands of his soldiers for the… Read more.
Trump threatens NATO members Donald Trump’s norm-busting behavior has redefined the term “unprecedented.” Indeed, he has given political reporters and pundits cause to toss that term around like confetti at a New Year’s Eve bash. Case in point is the unprecedented way Trump threatened he would encourage Russia to have its way with NATO members who “do not pay… Read more.
Zelensky seeking more aid A year ago this month, President Volodymyr Zelensky came to Washington. He was seeking additional US aid to help Ukraine fend off Russia’s genocidal aggression. He addressed a Joint Session of Congress, where members hailed him as a hero. They viewed him as a beacon of democratic resilience. I duly commented on the Churchillian… Read more.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan straddles Western democracies and Eastern autocracies, much as Turkey straddles Europe and Asia. His politics are as ambidextrous as Turkey’s geography is strategic. And Erdogan has used Sweden’s application for NATO membership to display his ambidexterity. Turkey greenlights Sweden’s NATO membership Russia’s genocidal invasion of Ukraine scared Finland and Sweden straight. It moved both to… Read more.
Prigozhin’s failed coup Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner mercenaries marched on Saturday to overthrow Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. And they seemed as hell-bent as Libyan opposition forces were when they marched to overthrow Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Everyone was rooting for those Wagner mercenaries to succeed. That is, except for the notorious few… Read more.
Donald Trump has boasted about withdrawing the United States from the Iran Nuclear deal, as if it were the most impressive diplomatic feat since Richard Nixon opened diplomatic relations with China. And Bibi Netanyahu has boasted about getting Trump to withdraw from that deal, as if he had manipulated Trump the way Iago manipulated Othello.… Read more.
China has been leveraging its economic power on the world stage for years. Now it’s beginning to do the same with its growing military power — as its aggressive, uncontested moves in the South China Sea attest. More to the point, China’s disregard for international criticism has grown in direct proportion to its economic and… Read more.
I’ve been ridiculing this Annual Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly for years. As I noted in my 2007 commentary on world leaders blowing hot air at UN confabs, most world leaders treat this annual event as little more than an invitation to wine and dine their wives — who spend their days shopping… Read more.
