The next major war? What the South China Sea is really about To state it right from the start: This is neither about oil nor […]
Category: Background Stories and Dossiers
The Rupture with the Global System: How Russia and China are Chasing Down Western Aviation
Like China before it—which faced intense sanctions aimed at dismantling its advanced industries and destabilizing its economy—Russia was hit by Western economic sanctions so severe […]
Europe’s Long War With Russia: The 200-Year Geopolitical Pattern No One Wants to Admit
There is a long historical continuity of European involvement in attempts to weaken, constrain, or destroy Russia, which can be understood across several overlapping historical […]
“Dark” Muslims – and brightly enlightened Europe?
The history we’ve been taught is propaganda: The Islamic world was the brain, Europe the arsonist. In 391 CE, Christian mobs destroyed the Great Library […]
The Total EU Ban on Russian Gas Imports – and Why Europe’s Industrial Competitors in Asia Know How to Use It to Their Advantage
A Decision of Historic Absurdity The European Union’s latest decision on gas imports from Russia is almost absurdly bizarre. Over the past five years—since before […]
Wu Zetian: The Woman Who Rewrote China’s Rules
I. Princess Pingyang’s Legacy Meets Wu Zhao: The Tang Dynasty’s Window of Female Power Wu Zetian was not content with the title of empress—she seized […]
The Sino-Russian Border and the Treaties China Calls Unequal — and Russia Calls History
Unfinished Business: China’s History with Russia’s 19th-Century Treaties China’s relations with former colonial or imperial powers vary widely, and its willingness to “forgive” or move […]
Eight Consecutive Years Without a Passed Audit — and the Pentagon Gets a 50% Raise
The Only Government Agency That Can’t Pass an Audit — and Is Rewarded for It The Pentagon has now failed its annual financial audit for […]
The Taiwan “Idiocy”: Why Game Theory Rules Out a 2027 Invasion
From coastal vulnerability to the “Game of Chicken” with Japan, here is why Beijing is playing a much longer—and more cautious—game. The drumbeat of war […]
Epstein Files, Deleted Evidence, and the Kidnapping of Maduro: Coincidence or Calculation of a Convenient Distraction from the Decadent Elites of a Dying Empire?
Just as the Epstein files threatened to expose some of the world’s most powerful figures, a sudden international crisis overnight diverted global attention. Conveniently for […]