Author: M Barbu

The Myopia of Anglo-American Rulers: How They Can’t Face Their Loss to the “Eurasian Miracle”

How the ideology of Eurocentrism, paternalism, racism and imperialism keeps the West in a fog about how badly its situation actually is.

International Relations (IR) theory fails to deliver on one of its key promises, specifically to produce positivist, value free analysis. What we encounter in the vast majority of international theory is the provincial or parochial normative purpose of defending and celebrating the ideal of the West in world politics. IR theory can no longer be represented as positivist, objective or value free.
~ John M. Hobson

USA and its allies must not use double standards if success against terrorism is to be achieved

One of the issues on which consensus should be created and can be treated at world level is that terrorism in all its forms should be firmly rejected. However this needs honesty and sincerity. Problems arise if some bigger powers insist on condemning terror attacks made by others but at the same time justify the use of terror by themselves on a large scale.

Israel’s War on the World

Each new week brings new calamities for people in the countries neighboring Israel, as its leaders try to bomb their way to the promised land of an ever-expanding Greater Israel.

In Gaza, Israel appears to be launching its “Generals’ Plan” to drive the most devastated and traumatized 2.2 million people in the world into the southern half of their open-air prison. Under this plan, Israel would hand the northern half over to greedy developers and settlers who, after decades of U.S. encouragement, have become a dominant force in Israeli politics and society. The redoubled slaughter of those who cannot move or refuse to move south has already begun.

Israeli weapons of mass destruction are a real-life Frankenstein

Israel’s dystopian weapons industry poses a threat to humanity, with the Hezbollah pager attacks setting a dangerous precedent, says Richard Silverstein.

Israel specialises in weapons of mass destruction.

In the 1990s, Israel pioneered the use of armed drones in warfare and was the first to use exploding cell phones in assassinations. Thirty years later, Israel was among the first to use satellite-operated, AI-guided, autonomous weapons, to assassinate an Iranian nuclear scientist.

Tech firms remove social media accounts of a Russian drone factory after an AP investigation

Google, Meta and TikTok have removed social media accounts belonging to an industrial plant in Russia’s Tatarstan region aimed at recruiting young foreign women to make drones for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Posts on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok were taken down following an investigation by The Associated Press published Oct. 10 that detailed working conditions in the drone factory in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone, which is under U.S. and British sanctions.

Rising discontent with military juntas in the Sahel region

Activists are condemning the juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger for failing to keep their promises. Some are calling for a return to civilian rule.

When military juntas took control in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, they alleged that civilian leaders were colluding with their former colonial power, France, to exploit natural resources. Following the coups, which took place between 2021 and 2023, civilians protested by displaying Russian flags and burning French ones.

7 killed in suicide bomber attack at a cafe in Somalia’s capital

Seven people died and six others were injured after a suicide bomber detonated an unidentified device at a café outside a police training school in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, police said Thursday.

Police say the victims included officers and civilians who were having tea outside the General Kaahiye Police Academy on Thursday.

Muhammad-Ali-Burhanov

Terror organization: Kata’ib Hezbollah

Status: Operative

Role: Burhanov, who has been linked to multiple attacks in Central Asia, reportedly studied at Al-Mustafa University in Iran—a known recruitment hub for Tehran-backed militant groups. This university, operating under the Islamic Propaganda Bureau of the Qom Seminary, has branches in nearly 60 countries and serves as Iran’s primary instrument for spreading Shi’ism internationally.

Rethinking Africa Command

Key points

  • As debate grows over U.S. policy towards Africa, consideration should be given to altering the continent’s status under the Department of Defense’s Unified Command Plan (UCP).
  • Eliminating Africa Command (AFRICOM) under the UCP would both signify a policy shift away from a counterterrorism focus and ease the process of implementing that change within the policymaking bureaucracy.
  • Establishing a three-star subcommand, nested under European Command (EUCOM), would still allow the United States to use force in Africa, when necessary, but would reduce the prominence of military power in U.S. policy toward the continent.
  • AFRICOM and EUCOM essentially share much of their force structure; this unique relationship would facilitate the transition to the proposed three-star subcommand.
  • Altering the U.S. military footprint in Africa should also be considered in the context of any changes to policy and command arrangements. Making specific recommendations at this time is complicated by the opaqueness of the current footprint.