Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — It came as a stunning reality check which many diplomats knew but did not expect to hear. In 2016, “survival will be an achievement for the National Unity Government” in war torn Afghanistan. The words came as a blunt assessment by the UN’s new political […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Syria’s Kurds on March 17 declared areas under their control a federal region, sparking an immediate backlash from Syria’s government, Turkey and the United States. More than 150 delegates from Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian and other parties meeting in Syria agreed to create a “federal system” unifying territory run by Kurds across several northern Syrian provinces. […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s former president who is facing a litany of charges including high-treason, left the country on March 18 three years after returning from exile and vowing to regain power. Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup and a staunch U.S. ally after the 9/11 attacks, was removed from the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Newly-detected activity by China around a disputed reef in the South China Sea is likely another attempt at land reclamation by the Chinese, the head of U.S. naval operations said. Adm. John Richardson said on March 17 the U.S. has seen new Chinese activity around Scarborough Shoal in the northern part of […]
Special to WorldTribune.com An American Muslim who is said to have defected from Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) claims he changed his point of view after opting to follow a young woman to Mosul, Iraq. Leaving a lot of questions unanswered, he apparently had problems with the lifestyle, noting that there was “no […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Days before President Barack Obama’s trip to Cuba, the Havana government said any attempt by the U.S. leader to call for the communist island to “change” would be a waste of time. The White House, meanwhile, said Obama still plans to deliver a pro-democracy message directly to Cubans. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Republican senators on March 17 introduced legislation aimed at requiring the Obama administration to impose stricter sanctions on Iran for continuous defiance of international sanctions on its ballistic missile program. The bill, introduced by Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, is the GOP’s response to what it says has been President Barack […]
Special to WorldTribune.com The West’s best course of action in Libya is to arm and support the army of Libyan Gen. Khalifa Haftar instead of military intervention, Egyptian President Abdul Fatah Sisi said. “If we provide arms and support to the national Libyan army it can do the job better than anyone else, better than […]
Special to WorldTribune.com The budding friendship between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin apparently hit a pothole on March 16. The Kremlin has said that a new campaign video from the GOP front-runner “demonizes” Russia. The video shows Putin throwing an opponent to the floor in a judo match, followed by a clip of him laughing, which […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, EastAsiaIntel.com The apparent leitmotif of this year’s meeting of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the top advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), consists of ways and means to resuscitate the Chinese economy. However, political issues – particularly differences among members of the Politburo Standing Committee […]
