Pressure mounting for Biden to bomb Iran
US President Joe Biden had hoped to avoid direct participation in the Israeli-Hamas war, even while wholeheartedly supporting Israel’s goal of defeating and destroying Hamas.
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When genosuicide feels like genocide
An American coalition consisting mainly of Iraqi forces destroyed the city of Mosul in northern Iraq in 2017, with civilian casualties estimated at somewhere between 2,500 and 40,000. The Associated Press count was 11,000 civilians dead but it might have been much higher. ISIS fighters prevented civilians from leaving as the US and its allies bombarded the town, and no one knows to this day how many are buried under the rubble.
Houthis and Iran are hurting China’s Red Sea trade
The Chinese are increasingly angry with Iran. Reuters reports that Chinese officials have asked Iran “to rein in attacks on ships in the Red Sea by the Iran-backed Houthis, or risk harming business relations with Beijing.”
China success, Western failure in revolutionary Myanmar
Myanmar all but fell from the international conscience in 2023, with the world subsumed by the Ukraine war, conflict in the Middle East and the dumpster fire of domestic American politics Myanmar, which competed with Sudan for most neglected conflict, was further marginalized by misconceptions that its post-coup civil war had settled into a grinding post-coup stalemate.
Japan and Bangladesh eye economic partnership pact
Japan and Bangladesh are ready to start negotiations aimed at finalizing an Economic Partnership Agreement by the end of 2025.
Sentinel setbacks expose aged and decrepit US nukes
The LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program faces significant overruns and delays, casting an unwelcome spotlight on America’s aging US nuclear arsenal and contrasting sharply with the rapid modernization efforts of near-peer adversaries China and Russia.
Japanese, German firms doubt China’s 2024 outlook
More Japanese and German firms with operations in China expect the Chinese economy to deteriorate in 2024 than think the opposite, two surveys show.
The hopelessness of Biden’s two-state solution
The United States and Saudi Arabia are pushing Israel to revive an old peace plan that would see Saudi Arabia and other Arab oil states recognize Israel in return for concrete moves toward the creation of a Palestinian state.