The World Has Discovered A $1 Trillion Ocean
Now what to do with it. The Arctic is open for business, and everyone wants a piece. A council at Davos lays down some rules. Read Here – Bloomberg
Tag: United States
Asia-Pacific Military Power Balance Shifting Against The United States?
Geopolitically, most states in the Asia-Pacific region are embracing closer security and economic ties with the United States. At the same time, however, states across the region have become more sensitive to China’s growing political, economic, and military power, and are potentially vulnerable to Beijing’s increasingly coercive behavior. The U.S. relationship with China is complex, […]
A Toxic Brew Of Desalinated Water
THE death of Iran’s Princess Ashraf in Dubai turned the focus on a defining cultural metaphor of our times — an unequal contest between waning riparian civilisations of which she was a part, and a noxious upstart culture that came with the advent of desalinated water, in which she perished. Read Here – Dawn
On Iran-Saudi Rift, Gulf Arab States Tread With Caution
Gulf Arab states rallied dutifully behind Saudi Arabia when it cut relations with Iran, recalling their ambassadors and cancelling flights to Tehran in solidarity with the oil-rich kingdom after its embassy in Iran was torched by protesters. But all apart from Bahrain stopped short of severing ties… Read Here – Zawya
One Map That Explains The Dangerous Saudi-Iranian Conflict
What the map shows is that, due to a peculiar correlation of religious history and anaerobic decomposition of plankton, almost all the Persian Gulf’s fossil fuels are located underneath Shiites. This is true even in Sunni Saudi Arabia, where the major oil fields are in the Eastern Province, which has a majority Shiite population. Read […]
Obama’s Middle East Balancing Act Tilts Toward Iran
As the cold war between Iran and Saudi Arabia heats up, the Barack Obama administration is trying to straddle the fence and not take sides, but its actions tell a different story — they all seem to favor Tehran. Read Here – Bloomberg
The Big Showdown Between Islam’s Rival Powers
The rule of thumb in the Middle East is that diplomacy often—too often—makes progress only to be overtaken by unforeseen violence on the ground. It’s happening again. Tensions between the Islamic world’s rival powers—the Sunni monarchy of Saudi Arabia and the Shiite theocracy in Iran—that erupted over the New Year’s weekend now jeopardize a string […]
Why The Saudis Get Away With Murder
Make no mistake: The rulers of the Saudi Kingdom bear responsibility for Nimr’s arrest, his conviction on trumped up terrorism charges, and now his execution. Nimr’s death pours gasoline on the smoldering discord in the region and risks a conflagration that could transform Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich Eastern Province into a quagmire such as that which Saudi […]
New Conditions Require Stronger Chinese Military
China must have a strong military. In possession of nuclear weapons, China doesn’t need to worry about military aggression. But there is more about national security. The Chinese army’s special mission to safeguard China’s national path has long been under pressure due to differences from Western practices. During China’s rise, friction with the US has […]
looking beyond borders 