Author: Christine Schier

After the U.S. Congress finally passed the supplemental war budget of $61 billion for Ukraine last week (cf. SAS 17/24), Kyiv’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba welcomed the vote, but told London’s The Guardian (april 24) that it was simply not enough. “No single package can stop the Russians”, he said. “The West has to realize the era of peace in […]

An Israeli-Palestinian settlement will not bring peace to the region unless there is also a peace agreement with Syria, where Israel still occupies the Golan Heights, and Lebanon. In addition, a rapprochement between the United States and Iran is required. A Southwest Asia peace conference would then be in order. Not one modeled on the abortive 1992 Madrid Peace conference, […]

It was reported by major news media that representatives of both Hamas and Fatah (Palestinian Authority) were in Beijing on April 26 to discuss cooperation on forming a unity government and putting an end to the slaughter in the territories. Many actors in the region have urged the Chinese to play a more active diplomatic role in the region, in […]

Sabino Vaca Narvaja, who served as Argentina’s ambassador in Beijing from April 2021 to Dec. 10, 2023, has just completed a working trip to five Chinese cities, during which he discussed exciting plans for continued bilateral cooperation among academic, cultural and communication institutions, despite President Javier Milei’s insulting and offensive behavior toward China’s leaders. Notable was his meeting in Shanghai […]

“Peace through Development for Israel and Palestine and all of South-West Asia”, centered on the Oasis Plan, was the theme of the highly successful online conference organized by the Schiller Institute on April 13, with speakers from five different continents. The first panel, reported on in last week’s issue, focused on the political and diplomatic aspects of the crisis (cf. […]

In an emergency vote for President Biden’s supplemental war budget, the majority of the U.S. Congress demonstrated once again its delusion that maintaining the “Sole Superpower” military status of the U.S. is good for the country. The vote occurred after the $95 billion allocation for Ukraine ($61 billion), Israel and Taiwan had been bottled up by Speaker Mike Johnson for […]

On April 18, the UN Security Council held its vote on Palestine’s request to become a full member state in the United Nations. The overwhelming majority, 12 nations from all parts of the world (Algeria, China, Ecuador, France, Guyana, Japan, Korea, Malta, Mozambique, Russia, Sierra Leone and Slovenia) voted in favor. Two abstained, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. The United […]

Folker Hellmeyer, one of Germany’s most popular economists, warned in an April 17 interview with PrivatInvestor TV that the German economy is running into a wall, and that the crash will rapidly become non-linear. The world economy is witnessing a fragmentation, Hellmeyer explained, with the Global West decoupling from the Global South which, measured in purchase power parity, now represents […]

The “Neutrality Initiative”, launched by the “Pro Schweiz” group and the Swiss People’s Party (SPP), has filed a petition in favor of a national referendum to restore strict neutrality status for the country. The number of certified signatures (133,000 plus many more uncertified) gathered in a relatively short time period reflects the large support the initiative has found in the […]

All in all, despite the differing views on Ukraine, Taiwan and the South China Sea, Chinese media coverage of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit to Chongqing, Shanghai and Beijing one week ago was positive. The presence of so many German industry leaders was portrayed as beneficial for both sides, while Scholz’s statement in support of Chinese e-car exports to Europe […]