Author: Christine Schier

In last week’s issue, we covered the successful conference on the reconstruction of Afghanistan, organized by the Ibn Sina Research and Development Center in Kabul Nov. 6-8. An envoy of the Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano, who was at that conference, reported on it in the Nov. 19 edition. He describes the reality of the new Afghanistan in terms quite […]

The situation on the ground in Southwest Asia has dramatically worsened over the past days. Israeli forces have escalated their operations, bombing innocent Palestinian children and civilians under the protective umbrella provided by the United States, and the West as a whole. At the same time, fighting between Israel and Hezbollah intensified, with Israeli airstrikes deeper into southern Lebanon, and […]

Clearly, the Biden Administration is the one government in the world (outside of Netanyahu’s) that could move the most decisively to ensure a ceasefire in Gaza and put an end to the carnage. The Administration has repeatedly refused to do so, completely blowing the cover off “Western values” and morality. In the United States at large, however, opposition to the […]

As the man-made induced de-industralization of Europe is advancing in leaps and bounds, the tide is turning on Ursula von der Leyen’s insane “Green Deal” policy. While the political earthquake in Germany’s key state of Hesse may be a harbinger of things to come in Berlin (cf. below), other pieces of the EU green agenda are also falling apart. * […]

Ever since the drastic losses for the Greens, SPD and FDP in the state parliament elections of Bavaria and Hesse on Oct. 8, analysts have been speculating about the inevitable consequences it would have on the federal government, a coalition of the same three parties. Talk has been rife of a cabinet reshuffle, and even a replacement of the coalition […]

A number of French diplomats are urging the Elysée to take a more balanced position in Southwest Asia, and regret France’s loss of influence in the Global South. The growing dissent among diplomats had already been reported by Le Monde on Nov. 8, in an article headlined “French Diplomatic Corps Is Frustrated by Emmanuel Macron’s Choices on the Middle East”. […]

Before participating in the Ibn-Sina Forum in Kabul (cf. below), the former Executive Director of the UN Office on Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UNODC), Pino Arlacchi, attended the XVI Eurasian Forum in Samarkand Nov. 3-5. On the sidelines of the event, he gave an online interview to Ottolina TV, where he touched on various subjects, including the collapsing Western […]

The Ibn Sina Research and Development Center sponsored an extraordinary conference in Kabul on Nov. 6-8, focused on the rapid economic development of the country (cf. SAS 45/23). Over 500 people attended, including officials from the ministries of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and a wide spectrum of Afghan and international experts (including 80 women). Day-long workshops took place on […]

The First Saudi-African Summit was held on Nov. 10 in Riyad, Saudi Arabia, with the principle aim of mapping out a path for cooperation in ensuring the economic development of the African continent. The event is an example of the new paradigm of cooperation taking hold in the Global South, led by the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa). […]

On Nov. 6, Palestinian health authorities announced that the death toll in Gaza had exceeded 10,000, prompting UN Secretary General Guterres to exclaim that Gaza is becoming “a graveyard for children”. Just one day earlier, Israeli forces had cut off all communications in the Gaza Strip for the third time, fully surrounded Gaza City and cut the Gaza Strip in […]