Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — On a picture perfect September morning, the Grim Reaper struck in New York. Hijacked aircraft slammed into the Twin Towers of the Word Trade Center shattering the myth that terrorism “can’t happen here.” Before long, the towers were like two belching black smokestacks set against […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — The majestic Danube River connects Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest. Just 40 miles downriver from Vienna, the historic city of Bratislava rises above the Danubian plain. Still the turrets of Bratislava castle on the hill are more picturesque than forbidding but are usually missed in a […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler PARIS — A vital American ally has gone geopolitically adrift in the wake of Turkey’s failed military coup, and the subsequent crackdown on all forms of domestic political dissent by the strongman ruler Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The bloody coup in which hundreds died, nonetheless served as a tragic […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler PARIS — Imagine for a moment arriving at Sunday morning religious service only to see the doors of the church guarded by camouflage-clad soldiers with automatic weapons. Well, this was the stark reality when we arrived at our neighborhood church, a structure dating from the 15th century, but […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler PARIS — The recurring terrorist attacks which have plagued France seem to have no bounds nor mercy. The murder of a Catholic priest saying Mass in a church near Rouen by two Islamic State thugs brought the crisis to a new low. The daily Le Figaro headlined “Murdered […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — What’s beginning to look like this year’s Republican presidential primaries in the USA has morphed into a political scramble for the UN Secretary General’s seat. With a dozen prospective candidates, the race for the new Secretary General has now overshadowed much of the work at […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — In a major legal setback for Beijing, an international tribunal has rejected and rebuffed many of Mainland China’s claims regarding exclusive sovereignty and rights in the disputed South China Sea. The landmark ruling in the Hague, by the Permanent Court of Arbitration stated there was […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — In a sense NATO has been a victim of its own success. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also known as the Atlantic Alliance, has rested on its post Cold War laurels and the afterglow of the fall of the Berlin Wall and political freedom throughout […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — The annual round of musical chairs in the UN Security Council came early this year as elections for five new non-permanent members to the fifteen member council were held as to give prospective countries more time to prepare for their two-year tenure beginning in January. […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — It’s a deal! The Islamic Republic of Iran is set to buy 100 American made Boeing civilian airliners for a price tag near $25 billion. The sale which has been quietly in the works for some months now, can be directly linked to last Summer’s […]
