WORLD WATCH

GUEST OP/ED - Once again, and for the fifth time in four years, Israel is on the brink of an election, and is facing the all-too-familiar prospect of political deadlock—even before ballots are cast.

WOMEN, LIFE, FREEDOM - Mahsa Amini, who was preparing to go to university with the goal of becoming a doctor, was taken into custody on Sept. 13 in Tehran by Iranian ‘morality police’. Her crime? Wearing a hijab they deemed “inappropriate.”

MIDDLE EAST POLITICS - Given that Israel and Hamas collaborate both publicly and tacitly on multiple fronts, one would think they would finally realize that they are stuck and neither can escape the other.

UK WATCH - Americans, relieved that they were rid of Donald Trump and his incessant scandals, looked gleefully to their neighbors across the Atlantic as British Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned after a mere 45 days in office.

WAR INDUSTRY - As Russia's attack on Ukraine drags on, the world is dealing with a lot of uncertainty.

MIDDLE EAST POLICY - Regardless of the intensity of the current conflict between the Biden administration and Saudi Arabia, their long history of military alliance and shared concerns over regional stability will certainly override their conflicting interests, especially at this juncture of international tension in the wake of the war in Ukraine

HAITIAN UPHEAVAL - The news story begins: “The Council of Ministers [on October 8 in Haiti] authorized the prime minister to seek the presence in the country of a specialized military force in order to end the humanitarian crisis provoked by insecurity caused by gangs and their sponsors.”

RUSSIA WAR ON UKRAINE - When President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February, he began two very different wars.

CYBER SCAM - A new type of online fraud emanating from scam sweatshops in Southeast Asia is facing its first major crackdown.

SURVIVAL OF THE RICHEST - In mid-September, for just a few days, Indian industrialist Gautam Adani entered the ranks of the top three richest people on earth as per Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.

ITALIAN POLITICS - The rise of far-right politician Giorgia Meloni has left many outside Italy asking how her brand of what many argue is fascism can achieve such prominence in a country that has experienced life under the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini.

RISING EXTREMISM - Energy and food bills are soaring. Under the onslaught of inflation and prolonged wage stagnation, wages are in free fall.

WAR WATCH - On 2 December 1943, 105 German bombers made a surprise air raid on Bari in southern Italy, where they sank 27 Allied cargo and transport ships.

RUSSIAN DRAFT - The head of a military draft office in the Russian town of Ust-Ilimsk was being treated for injuries on Monday after being shot by a gunman who—like more than 1,000 people who have been arrested for protesting in recent days—was reportedly angry over President Vladimir Putin's recent military conscription announcement.

A NIGHTMARE SCENARIO - Unable to recruit enough soldiers from the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin takes North Korean leader Kim Jong-un up on his recent offer to send 100,000 North Koreans to join the Russian president’s ill-fated attempt to seize Ukraine.

GUEST COMMENTARY - In Washington, wide agreement exists that the Russian army’s performance in the Kremlin’s ongoing Ukraine “special military operation” ranks somewhere between lousy and truly abysmal.

NON PROLIFERATION - After two weeks in Iran during latter part of January 1979, the height of the revolutionary movement against the dynastic, autocratic rule of Mohammed Reza Ayatollah, I had the opportunity for an extended conversation with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in his tent where he received foreign visitors and journalists during his final days in Paris.

FOREIGN RELATIONS - Following the chaotic U.S. departure from Afghanistan in August 2021 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Washington has sought to reaffirm its commitment to its allies and partners.

GUEST COMMENTARY - The current US, UK , EU and NATO policies vis à vis Russia and China violate the letter and spirit of the UN Charter as well as many prior declarations and commitments and treaties which are at the basis of modern international law.

GUEST COMMENTARY - The recent provocative and unnecessary visit to Taiwan by Democratic Congresswoman Pelosi may well be a turning point the US (and potentially, the world) will regret.

NUCLEAR DETERRENCE - 77 years ago, the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945 and three days later, Nagasaki, resulted in immediate deaths of approximately 120,000 majority civilians and by year’s end over 210,000.