'Just World News' with Helena Cobban

China and the US in Afghanistan

It's good to put yourself into the shoes of others from time to time. For a while now, I've been trying to imagine the conversations that the Central Committee of...

The Year of the Ox II

First, going back to the year of the Golden Snake (nothing personal, George) -- April 26, 2001: REPORTER: Do we have an obligation to defend the Taiwanese? GEORGE W. BUSH:...

Sort of catching up here

I've been battling the flu for the past week. It made me feel mentally debilitated and above all TIRED. Since I've also been trying to write a big piece for...

The Year of the Ox

The Chinese new year of the Ox began on January 26th, and it portends to be a year of change for China-Taiwan relations. The Ox is thought to be the...

Gaza: US blocking power eroded; Quartet calls for ceasefire

Back in the 33-Day War of 2006, the Bush administration was able to block the Security Council and the rest of the UN from issuing a formal call for a...

Somalia and an international community in disarray (again)

So here we are, sixteen years on, and we once again have a major crisis of governance, civil chaos, and human suffering in Somalia; an international "community" that's completely incapable...

My CSM piece on Obama, America, and the world

... is here. Also, archived here....

US power declining. Duh.

So the US's National Intel Council has finally released the 'Global Trends 2025' report that its analysts have been working on for many months now. Gloom 'n' doom for many...

First big global challenges for Obama

While Ahmadinejad and Hamas are making nicey-nice in their first overtures to President-elect Barack Obama, leaders in Russia and China have sent their first rhetorical "shots" across his bows. The...

Financial crisis and world power shifts, pt.2

In this recent (introductory) post on this topic I wrote, "The US financial system's current woes have accelerated the decline in American power in the world that has already been...

And that $25 billion for Detroit...

In all the publicity around the $700 billion bailout for wall Street that became law last Friday, the fact that Congress last Tuesday also appropriated $25 billion to prop up...

The financial crisis and world power shifts

The US financial system's current woes have accelerated the decline in American power in the world that has already been underway for several years now. This is so for a...

China and Japan's stakes in the US financial crisis

Did you know that China has over $900 billion of exposure/investment in US Treasury bills and in debt issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac-- and that the Chinese government...