Latest Analysis and Commentary
by Robert Williams • September 17, 2025 at 5:00 am
"We are talking about a very dystopian future if we allow central banks to issue central bank digital currencies. You know, even if the original designers and heads of central banks who are launching this are super well-meaning, you know, let's give them the benefit of the doubt, we just know what human nature is like and history is the best guide... I think the power would be abused, if not by the original generation of launchers, then by the next generation.... It will be a completely totalitarian system of such frightening proportions, it's hard to imagine... The micromanaging decision [about your spending] will then be automated and... you have no right to appeal the algorithm... You just won't be able to use your money for certain things and then there is nothing that you can do... That by definition ends freedom...." -- Richard A. Werner, German economist, 2024, The Biden administration was actively working towards an American CBDC, but in May 2024, the House of Representatives passed a bill to prevent the Federal Reserve from introducing a CBDC. Shortly after coming into office, President Donald Trump banned the establishment of a CBDC in the United States. In Europe, the European Union is barreling ahead at full speed towards a central bank digital currency for those EU countries that are part of the eurozone, which includes the majority of EU countries. Yet, the dangers of this euro CBDC are nowhere near being discussed in mainstream European media. Of course, EU leaders stress that Europe must have a CBDC to "adapt to the digital age" – a vapid statement evidently intended to subdue skeptics, and supposedly to protect Europe against "increasing geopolitical fragmentation," whatever that is, if it is even relevant to digital currencies. Whatever the excuse, the impending CBDCs appear intended to give governments unlimited power: If the government does not like your speech, off to jail you go – as in the UK, where people are imprisoned for months and years for saying or writing things that the government disagrees with. Meanwhile, real crimes, such as the mass-rape of thousands of children over the past 20 years, in Rotherham and other cities, remain rampant and largely unaddressed. Unfortunately, none of this is far-fetched. In Canada, during Covid-19 when the truckers went to Ottawa peacefully to protest government pandemic restrictions, then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau simply invoked the Emergencies Act, which allowed the government to force banks to freeze the truckers' bank accounts. Problem solved. Agustin Carstens, General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, has admitted that CBDCs will give governments total control: "[I]n cash, we don't know, for example, who is using a $100 bill today; we don't know who is using a 1000 peso bill today. A key difference with the CBDC is that central bank will have absolute control on the rules and regulations that we determine the use... and we will have the technology to enforce that." Your money will no longer be yours, but more like a credit or account that you will have with the government and that you will only have access to on condition that you follow the rules, whatever they might be.
With central bank digital currencies, your money will no longer be yours, but more like a credit or account that you will have with the government and that you will only have access to on condition that you follow the rules, whatever they might be. (Image source: iStock/Getty Images)
Globalist leaders are working at full speed to introduce central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). A CBDC is a digital currency that is issued directly by a central bank, such as the Federal Reserve in the US, the European Central Bank in the EU's eurozone, and the Bank of England in the UK.
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by Khaled Abu Toameh • September 16, 2025 at 5:00 am
Which European country would tolerate 50,000 rockets, mortars and missiles fired at it -- or even one rocket or missile? Before the October 7, 2023 attack.... Egypt, Qatar, the United Nations and other international parties kept assuring Israel that the best way to achieve calm and stability in the Gaza Strip was by improving its economy and issuing more permits for Palestinian laborers to enter Israel. When Israel imposed restrictions on the Gaza Strip to protect its own citizens and prevent terrorism, it was condemned for imposing suffering and pain on the Palestinians living there. When Israel started easing restrictions and handing out thousands of permits to Gazan workers to enter Israel (while Egypt and other Arab countries refused to accept Palestinians), it faced criticism for allegedly strengthening Hamas. When Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, there was a lot of talk in Israel about turning the enclave into the "Singapore of the Middle East." Israel's goal, or dream, was to transform the Gaza Strip into a prosperous, thriving area, similar to how Singapore developed from a small, poor country into a wealthy, technologically advanced hub. Israel clearly wanted to open a new chapter in its relations with the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip and work together on economic and technology projects for the benefit of both people. Israel had been led to believe that jobs, money and humanitarian aid would bring stability and calm, and had hoped that the humanitarian and economic aid would prevent, or at least reduce, terror attacks from the Gaza Strip. However, Hamas and many Palestinians viewed these conciliatory measures as signs of weakness on the part of Israel. What the international community fails to understand is that since the establishment of Hamas more than 35 years ago, its stated goal has been the elimination of Israel. For Hamas, the conflict with Israel has never been about the economy or settlements or improving the living conditions of the Palestinians. Hamas regards Israel as one big illegitimate "settlement" that needs to be uprooted and replaced with an Islamist state. Israel is damned both for helping the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and damned for not helping them enough. When Israel allows funding and economic aid sent into Gaza, as it did, Israel is blamed for helping fund Hamas's war against Israel. If Israel had refused to allow funding and economic aid to be sent into Gaza, Israel would be accused of starving and brutalizing the Palestinians. Everyone, it seems, wants to have it both ways so that whatever Israel does is "wrong."
Israel had been led to believe that jobs, money and humanitarian aid would bring stability and calm, and had hoped that the humanitarian and economic aid would prevent, or at least reduce, terror attacks from the Gaza Strip. However, Hamas and many Palestinians viewed these conciliatory measures as signs of weakness on the part of Israel. Pictured: Palestinian men in the northern Gaza Strip gather to apply for permits to work in Israel, on October 6, 2021. (Photo by Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images)
Several years ago, Israel came under pressure from many in the international community to ease restrictions on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, in order to alleviate the suffering of the two million Palestinians living there. The pressure came despite Hamas's repeated terror attacks against Israel, including more than 31,000 rockets and mortars fired from Gaza at the civilian communities of Israel, a country the size of New Jersey, before 2023, accompanied by violent riots by the terror group at Israel's border. In the nearly two years since 2023, an additional 19,000 rockets and missiles have been fired at Israel from Gaza. Which European country would tolerate 50,000 rockets, mortars and missiles fired at it -- or even one rocket or missile? Since 2023, Israel nevertheless expressed its readiness to help the residents of the Gaza Strip despite the continued attacks and threats by Hamas to pursue its Jihad (holy war) against Israel.
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by Lawrence Kadish • September 16, 2025 at 4:00 am
(Image source: iStock/Getty Images)
It is time to talk about the Democratic nominee for New York City Mayor, Zohran Mamdani. Not because he may well be the next mayor of one of the most important cities in America, and perhaps the world. But because of what he represents: the core principles of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) of which he is a staunch and unapologetic member. Let us first recognize that his socialism is not the socialism that we often attach to the Great Depression policies of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR's version of "socialism" saved the nation from the ravages of the Depression in the 1930s through programs that leveraged public works as a means of restoring paychecks and pride for millions. The creation of FDR's Social Security allowed families to put aside money that would be returned to them upon retirement. It was government with empathy.
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by Nils A. Haug • September 15, 2025 at 5:00 am
As early as 1974, the Islamist agenda to dominate Western nations was disclosed by Algeria's Houari Boumedienne in his speech to the United Nations: "One day, millions of men will leave the Southern Hemisphere to go to the Northern Hemisphere. And they will not go there as friends. Because they will go there to conquer it. And they will conquer it with their sons. The wombs of our women will give us victory." Australia's decision to recognize a fictitious Palestinian state, along with France, Britain and Canada, totally contravenes the current requirements of international law for nations. The Australian government apparently believes that Islamophobia adversely affects social cohesion. What it has yet to comprehend is that the concept of Islamophobia is a two-edged sword, sometimes employed to suppress genuine criticism of some of the tenets of Islam, but also to neutralize any criticism of the religion before it can even begin. "Hamas is not just at war with Israel. It is at war with Jews, Christians, and the very foundations of civilization itself.... This is not politics, this is a religious war. Its purpose is to replace Judaism and Christianity with radical Islam. If the world does not understand this, everyone will pay the price."— Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of Hamas co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef. "The hardest decision any leader has to make is to thwart a danger before it fully materializes." — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Europe's weak leaders have failed in this regard, resulting in a catastrophic social crisis for their nations. The question is whether or not Australia will follow a similar course of submission, a recipe for losing the West.
Pictured: Anti-Israel demonstrators march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge on August 3, 2025. (Photo by David Gray/AFP via Getty Images)
In accordance with a policy of purported social cohesion and ostensibly to prevent "Islamophobia," Australia's Labor Party government, primarily represented by Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, perturbingly appear to be minimizing the malignant, often violent Jew-hatred now occurring in the major cities of Australia. While many acts of terror are being perpetrated against the Jewish community (here and here), the Australian government has been fast-tracking hundreds of potentially dangerous Palestinians into the country as refugees without proper vetting. The only country really suited to properly vetting Palestinians and potential jihadist radicals would be Israel. Israeli representatives however, are regarded almost as "personae non gratae" in Australian these days. Some have actually been barred entry.
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by Con Coughlin • September 14, 2025 at 5:00 am
[T]he Trump administration doubtless understands that Netanyahu's willingness to attack Hamas's leadership even when they are being protected by a foreign power such as Qatar, merely indicates the Israeli leader's determination to achieve the goal of "finishing the job" as the US requested. Netanyahu seems to have come to the conclusion, after repeated evasions by Hamas, that the time for any productive negotiating is over. Hamas has apparently realised that if it returns all the hostages, it will have no more leverage with which to blackmail Israel. That is why Netanyahu will most likely ignore the continuing clamour among some Israelis for a premature ceasefire deal that would enable Hamas not only to hold on to some of the hostages to use as bargaining chips in any future negotiations. A premature ceasefire would essentially enable Hamas to retain a presence in Gaza, a move the terror group would pocket as a major victory. So long as Hamas's terrorist leaders show no willingness to lay down their weapons and leave Gaza, it is clear that Netanyahu needs to continue to hunt them down, irrespective of where they may be hiding. There seems no point in assuring terrorist kingpins safe havens. If the Trump administration is serious about bringing peace to Gaza, the region and ultimately West – as to its enormous credit, it seems to be -- then it should continue to support Israel's attempts to destroy Hamas's terrorist infrastructure instead of working on Gaza ceasefire plans that Hamas and its backers have no intention of ever accepting.
The Trump administration doubtless understands that Netanyahu's willingness to attack Hamas's leadership even when they are being protected by a foreign power such as Qatar, merely indicates the Israeli leader's determination to achieve the goal of "finishing the job" as the US requested. It is a key factor the Trump administration needs to take on board before it attempts to negotiate any future ceasefire arrangements for Gaza. Pictured: Smoke billows after an Israeli airstrike on a Hamas leadership meeting in Qatar's capital Doha on September 9, 2025. (Photo by Jacqueline Penney/AFPTV/AFP via Getty Images)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to bomb Hamas's terrorist leadership in Qatar should send a clear and unequivocal message to the Trump administration that the Israeli leader has absolutely no intention of ending hostilities in Gaza until Hamas is utterly destroyed, and all the remaining Israeli hostages have been returned. Prior to Israel's attack against the headquarters of Hamas's terrorist leadership in Doha, the Qatari capital, US President Donald Trump had been pressing hard for Netanyahu to sign up to the latest version of the ceasefire proposal his administration has drawn up to end the Gaza conflict. Under the terms of the latest deal negotiated by Trump's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, all the remaining 48 hostages captured during Hamas's October 7 terrorist attack in 2023 were to be released. In return, Israel would free an estimated 2,500-3,000 Palestinian prisoners.
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by Amir Taheri • September 14, 2025 at 4:00 am
The biggest fear that the populists of both right and left try to spread, so far with some success, is that of reforms that might threaten the "acquired social benefits" such as early retirement and long holidays. The silver bullet that killed Bayrou's government was the plan to cut annual holidays, by just two days, to cover part of the budget deficit. Lurking in the background was the government's refusal to cut the retirement age by two years to 62, while populists campaign for retirement at 60. People usually make revolutions to bring about change. The French, in their populist mode, however, beat the drum of revolution to prevent change. One thing is certain, however: France's problems won't be solved by riots, strikes and what is known in French as jacquerie.
The biggest fear that French populists of both right and left try to spread, so far with some success, is that of reforms that might threaten the "acquired social benefits" such as early retirement and long holidays. One thing is certain, however: France's problems won't be solved by riots, strikes and what is known in French as jacquerie. Pictured: A café in Paris burns after it was firebombed by rioters who oppose government budget cuts, on September 10, 2025. (Photo by Tom Nicholson/Getty Images)
Having just ended its ninth month in office, French Prime Minister François Bayrou stepped down after the National Assembly endorsed a no-confidence vote by a huge majority. That handed President Emmanuel Macron a hot potato in the shape of naming yet another Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, the outgoing Defense Minister of the Armies, the fifth in just two years, with no certainty that he would be the lucky fifth. Macron is in a hurry because he wants to fly to New York to settle the Ukraine war, ensure recognition of a Palestinian state, solve the Iranian nuclear problem, and offer a master plan for rebuilding Lebanon and Syria. Meanwhile, the French have reverted to their classical response to political crisis by taking to the streets, sabotaging railway lines, looting luxury shops and, of course, flying-picket strikes across the land. Talk of a general strike is making the rounds, with a whiff of revolution polluting the autumn air.
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by Majid Rafizadeh • September 13, 2025 at 5:00 am
This was not simply an anniversary parade; it was a declaration of intent by a coalition of states that reject the Western-led order and seek to replace it with an authoritarian alternative. When seen together, the gathering represented the closest thing yet to the formation of a new bloc: one that might aim to construct an entirely new world order defined not by democracy, but by coercion, censorship, and force. Dismissing these events as mere theater would be irresponsible. Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine is a direct challenge to the stability of Europe –a challenge that that Iran and North Korea materially support. China, meanwhile, has been expanding its military footprint throughout the South China Sea and accelerating preparations for the possibility of a future confrontation with Taiwan. Together, these powers are testing the limits of Western resolve. They are also watching closely to see whether the United States, Europe, and their allies respond with hesitation or with strength. They appear fully aware of what they are doing and why they are doing it: to reshape the world to where their authority dictates the rules, freedom is suppressed, and sickly, hesitating democracies are dismantled as they deserve to be. The world has entered the hour of choice: Will Western nations deter this authoritarian quartet with unity and strength, or will they fall back on illusions that "diplomacy" – talking long enough -- can contain belligerent ambitions?
What truly defined China's recent elaborate military parade was not the weaponry rolling across Tiananmen Square, but the rare gathering of leaders who stood shoulder to shoulder. Xi Jinping hosted Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, with Iran regime's President Masoud Pezeshkian also in attendance -- all creating a tableau that symbolized far more than a military tradition. Pictured: Putin, Xi and Kim attend the parade on September 3, 2025. (Photo by Alexander Kazakov/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
The spectacle that unfolded in Beijing recently was unlike any other military parade the world has seen. China, to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, staged its most elaborate display of military might, showcasing hypersonic missiles, advanced drones, cyberwarfare divisions, and an arsenal that left no doubt about its ambitions to be seen as a global military superpower. What truly defined this moment, however, was not the weaponry rolling across Tiananmen Square, but the rare gathering of leaders who stood shoulder to shoulder. Xi Jinping hosted Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, with Iran regime's President Masoud Pezeshkian also in attendance -- all creating a tableau that symbolized far more than a military tradition. This was not simply an anniversary parade; it was a declaration of intent by a coalition of states that reject the Western-led order and seek to replace it with an authoritarian alternative.
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by Lawrence A. Franklin • September 12, 2025 at 5:00 am
The Trump administration will likely pressure Sharaa's regime not to threaten Syria's Kurds, who make up a large portion of the pro-US Syrian Democratic Army in northeast Syria. Sharaa might also have to count on the US to resist pressure from his benefactor Turkey, which may be urging him to target Syria's Kurds. The question, however, remains if Sharaa is actually doing all he can to "protect all minorities" as he promised, or did Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, in pressuring US President Donald Trump to give Sharaa a chance to govern, set Trump up? Is Sharaa truly on a path to joining the Western alliance, or is he really just a terrorist in a suit and tie?
Is Syria's new ruler, Ahmed al-Sharaa, actually doing all he can to "protect all minorities" as he promised, or did Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, in pressuring US President Donald Trump to give Sharaa a chance to govern, set Trump up? Is Sharaa truly on a path to joining the Western alliance, or is he really just a terrorist in a suit and tie? Pictured: Sharaa is greeted by jihadists of his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus on December 8, 2024. (Photo by Abdulaziz Ketaz/AFP via Getty Images)
One of the most unheralded geopolitical developments in the Middle East, following Israel's military victories over regional enemies, is Israel's diplomatic reaction to the new regime of Ahmed al-Sharaa (aka Abu Mohammad al-Jolani) in Syria. Recent meetings in Paris between high-level Israeli and Syrian diplomats have reportedly resulted in a de-escalation of tensions as well as in establishing significant security improvements for Israel along its border with Syria.
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by Robert Williams • September 11, 2025 at 5:00 am
The report also shows that the EU runs a highly sophisticated "EU media complex" through which it gets to shape media narratives about itself and its agendas. The European Commission has, it seems, has literally paid off almost everything and everyone in the media world -- meaning that everyone, from news agencies to media outlets, public broadcasters and other media organizations, sits in the pocket of the European Commission to greater or smaller degrees. These abundant examples of media and news organizations are just those within the EU. The EU, however, is also operating a large-scale influence operation outside of the EU.... There is nothing transparent about any of this funding. According to the report, it is opaque and difficult to uncover. "The EU's ever-expanding system of media financing...creates financial dependencies, incentivises narrative conformity and fosters an ecosystem in which dissenting voices are marginalised – all under the virtuous banners of 'fighting disinformation', 'promoting European values' and 'building a European public sphere'" — Thomas Fazi, "Brussels's media machine: European media funding and the shaping of public discourse," June 2025. The EU sadly appears to be a deeply corrupt and undemocratic regime, which desperately clings to power through influence-peddling and the imposition of heavy-handed censorship. Hundreds of millions of Europeans continue to put up with these tactics. When will they please wake up?
The unelected leadership of the evidently corrupt European Union (EU) is now paying mainstream media to promote the agendas of its EU "elites." The EU appears to have spent as much as 1 billion euros during the past decade alone in the process. (Image source: iStock/Getty Images)
The unelected leadership of the evidently corrupt European Union (EU) is now paying mainstream media to promote the agendas of its EU "elites." The EU appears to have spent as much as 1 billion euros during the past decade alone in the process, according to a recent report, "Brussels's media machine: European media funding and the shaping of public discourse," by Thomas Fazi, from the European think tank MCC Brussels. Framing the projects as "fighting disinformation" and "promoting European integration" the EU has been throwing taxpayer money, conservatively estimated at €80 million annually, to "media projects" -- not including indirect funding, such as advertising contracts. The report also shows that the EU runs a highly sophisticated "EU media complex" through which it gets to shape media narratives about itself and its agendas. According to Fazi's report:
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September 11, 2025 at 4:00 am
(Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
They were trying to stop you, Charlie. You lived what America is about. We shall love and miss you forever. All of us at Gatestone
by Anna Mahjar-Barducci • September 10, 2025 at 5:00 am
Sudan's brutal civil war... is not just a clash between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and their former military allies turned rivals, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). It is a calculated power grab by the Muslim Brotherhood, which appears to be using the SAF as a Trojan horse to dominate northeast Africa and the Red Sea, a critical artery for global commerce. The Muslim Brotherhood, sponsored by Qatar, appears to be hijacking the SAF to stage a takeover, recycling old alliances under new guises. Despite recent concessions to the United States and Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood's grip in Sudan -- backed by Qatar and Iran -- threatens regional and global stability, potentially including freedom of passage in the Red Sea. [T]he Muslim Brotherhood — known in Sudan as the Islamic Movement — has entrenched itself in the SAF, and turned it into a tool for their regional ambitions to take control of northeast Africa and the Red Sea. The Muslim Brotherhood is not just allied with the SAF; individuals in it seem to be steering the SAF to take total control of Sudan in order to make it the Muslim Brotherhood's stronghold in Africa and the Middle East. The SAF is infiltrated by jihadist factions such as the Al-Bara Bin Malik Brigade (the Muslim Brotherhood's local military arm), the Bunyan Al-Marsous Brigade, and Justice and Equality Movement rebels led by Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim. These groups, tied to Bashir's ruthless National Intelligence and Security Service, frame their fight as a "jihad" against the RSF, which is backed by Sudan's secular civil society. Ali Ahmed Karti, the U.S.-sanctioned Islamic Movement leader, is, as reported by Arab media outlets, a key orchestrator of the SAF-Muslim Brotherhood alliance. Since his student days, Karti has organized Brotherhood loyalists in the army, and later packed the SAF with jihadists. One analyst suggested that the five generals were dismissed after Burhan met with U.S. Special Envoy Mossad Boulos in Switzerland, on August 11, 2025. Researcher Mujahid Ahmed, however, warns that the Muslim Brotherhood's influence persists, extending into civilian institutions, especially the foreign affairs and justice ministries. According to the Ayin Network, Al-Burhan apparently still relies on Karti and Bashir's loyalist, Ahmed Haroun, for battlefield support, indicating a tactical, not total, break. Iran has been supplying the Muslim Brotherhood-SAF axis with arms, including Ababil-3 and Mohajer-6 drones, which were delivered to Port Sudan in March and June 2024. Satellite imagery viewed by the BBC confirms their presence at a military site near Khartoum. Iran's support of this Muslim Brotherhood-SAF axis, tied to its ambitions to have a presence in the Red Sea, coincides with the Brotherhood's goals: namely, threatening U.S. allies such as Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Burhan's "cosmetic" purge of Islamist generals shows that indeed he can be influenced by Egypt and by the United States, but his reliance on the Muslim Brotherhood's financial and military support limits his ability to implement any real reforms. Sudan is evidently very much a part of the Muslim Brotherhood's global agenda. Ignoring events there will only allow a hostile stronghold to emerge in a region strategically vital for the interests of the West.
Sudan's brutal civil war is not just a clash between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and their former military allies turned rivals, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). It is a calculated power grab by the Muslim Brotherhood. Sudanese Armed Forces leader General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan's "cosmetic" purge of Islamist generals shows that indeed he can be influenced by Egypt and by the U.S. but his reliance on the Muslim Brotherhood's financial and military support limits his ability to implement any real reforms. Pictured: Burhan in Gedaref State, Sudan, on April 10, 2024. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
Sudan's brutal civil war, often overshadowed by global headlines, is not just a clash between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and their former military allies turned rivals, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). It is a calculated power grab by the Muslim Brotherhood, which appears to be using the SAF as a Trojan horse to dominate northeast Africa and the Red Sea, a critical artery for global commerce. Despite recent moves by SAF leader General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan to curb Islamist influence, presumably at the request of the United States or Egypt, the efforts of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has deep roots in his army, to achieve control of Sudan, northeast Africa and the Red Sea, signal a dangerous threat that could disrupt oil supplies, inflate global prices, and revive Sudan as a terrorist hub, imperiling Western interests.
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by Lawrence Kadish • September 10, 2025 at 4:00 am
It is important to hear and heed the warning provided by US Army General Jonathan Wainwright, who endured four brutal years as a Japanese prisoner-of-war eight decades ago. Pictured: General Douglas MacArthur embraces liberated POWs Wainwright (R) and British Lieutenant General A E Percival, in Yokohama, Japan on August 31, 1945. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
After watching the carefully stage-managed parade of Communist Chinese military power observing the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, it is important to hear and heed the warning provided by an American general who endured four brutal years as a Japanese prisoner-of-war eight decades ago. General Jonathan Wainwright fought a brave but futile defense of the Philippines in the days after Pearl Harbor. Having been overwhelmed by far superior forces, his men faced the Bataan Death March and barbaric treatment from their Japanese captors.
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by Lawrence A. Franklin • September 9, 2025 at 5:00 am
Pakistan, which possesses nuclear weapons, is nevertheless almost totally dependent on the People's Republic of China for military weapons systems, infrastructure improvement and energy projects. Pakistan is also in debt to China, its largest creditor, to the tune of $29 billion. Without continued Chinese financial assistance, Pakistan would fail to meet scheduled repayments of its international debt, which now amounts to $130 billion. China's financial rescue of its South Asian ally probably saved Pakistan from having the International Monetary Fund (IMF) declare it global credit risk. Such a declaration by the IMF could have resulted in the severe curtailment of foreign investment, as well as to decreased access to additional international loans. Consequently, if this had materialized, even China, might not have been able to stabilize the government of Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, which already is struggling to survive amidst soaring inflation, a weakening currency, high unemployment and dwindling foreign reserves. China might initially have hoped that Pakistan would serve as a model to attract interest from other states to embrace its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China has sponsored 122 BRI projects in Pakistan, and might also have hoped, as with other BRI investments, to create a debt trap for Pakistan, as it has for other nations.... As of 2021, according to The Guardian, "Researchers have identified debts of at least $385bn (£286bn) owed by 165 countries to China for 'Belt and road initiative' (BRI) projects..." Two interconnected flagship projects of China's BRI program in Pakistan significantly threaten to reduce Pakistan's national sovereignty: the "China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and the Gwadar Port Facility in Southwestern Pakistan along the coastline of the Arabian Sea.... Both projects appear to serve China's interests more than they do Pakistan's. Pakistan's latest sovereignty-concession is its caving to China's insistence that it improve relations with Afghanistan's Taliban regime.... The TTP's primary objective is to overthrow the government of Pakistan, replacing it with a strict Islamist state. Despite this bloody feud between the Kabul and Islamabad, Beijing has agreed to extend the CPEC BRI project to include Afghanistan. Gwadar is likely eventually to serve as a Chinese naval base, which will help challenge India's prominence in the Indian Ocean. Gwadar also would provide China with increased power projection in the Indo-Pacific Region. China's aggressive intrusion into its permissive ally Pakistan, certainly, violates Beijing's stated "Principle of Non-Interference" that supposedly governs its diplomatic relations. This latest projection of power in the Indian Ocean region is similar to what China has already achieved off the Horn of Africa, with its naval base at Djibouti, and -- take notice, United States and its Latin American allies -- what Communist China could be planning for Peru's new mega-port on the eastern Pacific.
Pakistan, which possesses nuclear weapons, is nevertheless almost totally dependent on the People's Republic of China for military weapons systems, infrastructure improvement and energy projects. Pakistan is also in debt to China, its largest creditor, to the tune of $29 billion. Without continued Chinese financial assistance, Pakistan would fail to meet scheduled repayments of its international debt, which now amounts to $130 billion. Pictured: Chinese-made JF-17 fighter jets of the Pakistan Air Force fly over Islamabad on March 16, 2022. (Photo by Aamir Qureshi/AFP via Getty Images)
Pakistan, which possesses nuclear weapons, is nevertheless almost totally dependent on the People's Republic of China for military weapons systems, infrastructure improvement and energy projects. Pakistan is also in debt to China, its largest creditor, to the tune of $29 billion. Without continued Chinese financial assistance, Pakistan would fail to meet scheduled repayments of its international debt, which now amounts to $130 billion. Pakistan's foreign policy decision-making is also reportedly hostage to Chinese influence. Islamabad has even established joint border security programs with Chinese paramilitary teams, an arrangement that additionally threatens Pakistani sovereignty.
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by Khaled Abu Toameh • September 8, 2025 at 5:00 am
Reporters Without Borders also ignored allegations that many of the Palestinian journalists targeted by the Israel Defense Forces were affiliated with Hamas and other terror groups. The silence of the international community has empowered Hamas to get rid of most of its political critics, as well as journalists who dared to criticize the terror group and its leaders. Consequently, the only Palestinian journalists who were free to operate in the Gaza Strip for nearly the past two decades were those working for Qatar's Al-Jazeera (Arabic) television empire, serving as Hamas's unofficial mouthpiece, or those whose reporting was limited to attacking and smearing Israel. Several international news agency journalists received telephone threats and warnings against covering Hamas' suppression of the protests. Those who continue to ignore Hamas atrocities and human rights abuses against Palestinians are doing a great disservice to the Palestinians: they are allowing Hamas to get away with its crimes against its own people.
A global media campaign of more than 150 outlets from 70 countries, coordinated by a group called Reporters Without Borders, pointed an accusing finger at Israel and ignored allegations that many of the Palestinian journalists targeted by the IDF were affiliated with Hamas and other terror groups. Pictured: Reporters Without Borders director general Thibaut Bruttin delivers a speech during a demonstration in Paris, on September 26, 2024. (Photo by Thomas Samson/AFP via Getty Images)
A recent international campaign to express solidarity with Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip has pointed an accusing finger at Israel, while ignoring the suffering they have experienced under Hamas's rule during the past two decades. The global media campaign of more than 150 outlets from 70 countries, coordinated by a group called Reporters Without Borders, also ignored allegations that many of the Palestinian journalists targeted by the Israel Defense Forces were affiliated with Hamas and other terror groups. Since its brutal and bloody takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007, Hamas has been waging a systematic campaign to silence its critics, including journalists who do not toe the line. We have not seen any global protests against Hamas's crackdown.
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by Amir Taheri • September 8, 2025 at 4:00 am
The Beijing parade had a much deeper message. Xi presented it as an homage to China's role in "defeating fascism" in World War II, thus, for the first time, joining the narrative that propelled the US, USSR, Britain and China before the Maoist regime, and France into the five leaders of the new world order via the United Nations. Xi is trying to end China's amnesia by reminding his people and the world that China didn't start with the 1949 Maoist outburst. He is trying to reclaim China's place as a major power, whether we like it or not. It is up to others to see it as a rival, a competitor, a partner or an enemy.
With last week's military parade, Chinese President Xi Jinping is trying to end China's amnesia by reminding his people and the world that China didn't start with the 1949 Maoist outburst. He is trying to reclaim China's place as a major power, whether we like it or not. Pictured: A CS-5000T drone rolls by during the parade in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on September 3, 2025. (Photo by Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images)
This month, China hit the world headlines with two events that could change the perception of its role and place in the global system in either a negative or positive way. The first event was the summit of the so-called Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) that brought together heads of state from 10 member nations plus another 10 wannabe members. Russian President Vladimir Putin was among the first category, along with Indian Premier Narendra Modi, his Pakistani counterpart Shehbaz Sharif and a string of Central Asian "stans" plus Iran. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and North Korean leader Kim Jun-un were in the second category. Western pundits saw the summit in Tianjin as an attempt at building a rival pole of power to challenge the United States and its European and Japanese allies. They played the old tune of "a new multipolar world system," forgetting that in using the geographical metaphor, one can't have more than two poles.
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