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 How time flies. It’s been 25 years since Hong Kong returned to Chinese control, a quarter century since the prosperous British Crown Colony became a semi-autonomous part of the People’s Republic of China, the world’s largest dictatorship. Nonetheless, the small but feisty islands on the south China coast […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler Is China drawing yet another provocative red line, this time in the narrow but strategic Taiwan Strait? The Beijing regime recently claimed that the Taiwan Strait, the defensive body of water buffering the island democracy from Mainland China, is actually sovereign Chinese territory. Recently the People’s Republic of […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler It was time to celebrate! The 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s accession to the throne in 1952 makes her the longest serving Monarch in British history. Thus, the grandly named Platinum Jubilee has not only dazzled the country with its Royal Pomp and circumstance, but as importantly invigorated […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler North Korea has been making a lot of noise, but few seemed to notice. Kim Jong-Un’s reclusive communist regime has fired off 23 missiles since the beginning of the year to the yawns of world opinion. So, is another North Korean missile showdown creeping up to surprise the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler Our world is beset by unthinkable tragedy; brash military aggression, widening instability and grinding humanitarian suffering. We know the places ranging from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, yet governments and relief agencies face overwhelming crisis fatigue as we lurch from Kabul to Kyiv in less than six months. Cause, effect, […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler Many people ask, “What’s the UN been doing to stop the Ukraine war?” That’s a fair question given that the conflict has been raging more than two months creating Europe’s most costly conflict and humanitarian crisis since WWII. So where is the UN or more specifically Secretary General […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler For the third time in a month, the UN General Assembly has resoundingly rebuked Russia for its actions in Ukraine. A tough resolution supported by 93 countries versus 24 backing Moscow, suspended Russia from the Human Rights Council. The move was as overdue as it proved poetic justice to oust […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler As Ukraine’s conflict churns on, most countries remain fixated on the deadly clash between the Russian invaders and heroically spirited Ukrainian defenders. This war in Europe after all has reawakened political and strategic attention along the old East/West axis. Yet thousands of miles beyond the widening tragedy in […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has triggered a rising tsunami of refugees fleeing their beleaguered homeland and heading for neighboring Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. As the winds of war sweep across the Ukrainian steppe, this growing humanitarian wave of civilians, young and old with legions of children among them, […]
