Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler The Queen has died; the page of history has turned. The passing of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest serving monarch, has shocked and saddened much of the world despite the sovereign’s declining health and her 96 years of age. Just months after having joyfully celebrated her platinum Jubilee […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler Presidents, Prime Ministers, Potentates and Kings have assembled in New York for the opening sessions of the 77th UN General Assembly. The annual event, which was sidelined and subdued by the COVID pandemic, seems to be back in stride but lacking a bit of the buzz and expectations […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler One year after the appalling collapse of Afghanistan into the hands of the Taliban insurgents, the humanitarian crisis in that beleaguered South Asian country has gone from bad to worse. The Biden Administration’s shameful and botched pullout of American military forces signaled the last tawdry act of the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler As Vladimir Putin’s war continues against Ukraine, there’s now a grim acceptance of tragedy; targeted civilians, wrecked cities and the threat from Russia’s nuclear weapons. But as the conflict churns on, few people have noticed the mixed signals that formerly blockaded port cities have cautiously reopened averting a famine […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler PARIS — It’s been a strange and uncertain summer, bookmarked by high temperatures, torrid inflation, and a very hot war on Europe’s eastern doorstep. France is still in vacation mode for a few more hectic weeks, but as the once glorious long days now shorten and the inevitable […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler Despite their huffing, puffing, and threatening, regarding the short but symbolic visit of U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to what China deems a “renegade province,” Taiwan, the Beijing Dragon blinked. Nancy Pelosi’s landmark if controversial visit to Taiwan went forward, and then it was […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler PORNICHET, France — Visiting a bountiful farmers market on France’s western Brittany coast, you can’t help but be dazzled by the choice and abundance of fresh fruits and food. Even in small towns, the sheer choice and selection is daunting. Now let’s metaphysically transport ourselves to Ukraine’s besieged Black […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler This was a crisis waiting to happen. Europe’s unfolding energy emergency was long in coming but at the same time widely encouraged by Western European states all too eager to embrace Russia’s cheap and available natural gas delivered to the European Union’s doorstep by a spiderweb of pipelines […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler The jolting but not unexpected wake-up call came from London. In a rare and unprecedented joint press conference the chiefs of both the British MI5 domestic intelligence service and their American counterpart the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FBI, presented a riveting account of China’s sweeping intelligence gathering […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler Just a year ago, the political odds of comfortably neutral Sweden and Finland joining NATO were a long shot; Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine changed the military threat and jolted the political calculus. At last week’s NATO Summit in Madrid, both countries were fast-tracked to full membership in […]
