Author: Steven Sahiounie

On March 5, Lebanese soldiers engaged in a rare brawl with Israeli soldiers who breached the separation line between the two countries. In a statement, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) said that a patrol of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) violated the Blue Line at the village of Aita al-Shaab in south Lebanon by a meter. The Blue Line is the line set by the United Nations for the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from Lebanon in 2000. A Lebanese unit intervened and forced the Israeli patrol to retreat beyond the Blue Line. Later a unit from the UN Interim…

Supplies of lethal military assistance to Kiev make some EU and NATO nations parties to the Ukraine conflict, even if they are not directly involved in the hostilities, Hungarian parliamentary speaker Laszlo Kover said on Sunday. “NATO and EU members have already sent almost $60 billion worth of lethal military aid to Ukraine, one of the warring parties. It means that separate EU and NATO member states are participants of this war, even though they are not fighting yet,” Kover to Hungarian broadcaster. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban cautioned the European Union last month that it could sleepwalk into an armed…

French trade unions are heading for what is expected to be a decisive showdown with President Emmanuel Macron over pension reform, with massive strikes from Tuesday aiming to bring the country “to a standstill”. After five separate days of protests so far this year, this week’s stoppages herald a new phase in the battle between the centrist government and opponents of the changes. “We always said that we would go into a higher gear if necessary,” the head of the influential CGT union, Philippe Martinez, told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper on Sunday. “It will be the case on Tuesday.”…

The Syrian foreign ministry strongly condemned the visit by the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff to an illegal US military base in the country’s northeast, calling it a violation of sovereignty, dignity, and territorial integrity. An official at the ministry stated that the American military official visited the illegal base purportedly to evaluate the effectiveness of the war against Daesh (ISIS or ISIL), a claim that was refuted by the international community as the origins of the terror group are linked to American intelligence, SANA reported. The statement added that the claims made by the American administration…

The great stagflationary debt crisis will hit markets this year, the famed economist warns The world is facing a “perfect storm” of high inflation, rising interest rates and a recession in 2023, with people who are currently employed likely to be hit hardest by the crisis, famed economist and New York University professor Nouriel Roubini told Australia’s ABC on Thursday. One of the first economists to predict the financial crisis of 2008-09, Roubini has been warning now for months of a stagflationary debt crisis, which would combine the worst elements of 1970s stagflation and the 2008 debt crisis. “I do believe that…

Participants in the annual meeting of the Presidential Council of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), which was held in the Cypriot capital, Nicosia, called on the governments of the world to put pressure on the US administration to lift the unjust siege and stop the unilateral coercive measures imposed on the Syrian people. In its closing statement on Saturday, the Council condemned the practices of the Israeli occupation in the occupied Arab lands, the illegal presence of the US and Turkish forces on Syrian lands, and their plundering of the Syrian people’s wealth. In a speech during the…

The oilfield in the Bohai Sea contains 100 million tons of reserves, according to the China National Offshore Oil Corporation Chinese state-owned oil and gas corporation CNOOC has announced the discovery of a major oilfield with light crude reserves of 100 million tons in the Bohai Sea, which stretches along the country’s northern coastline. According to a statement from the company on Wednesday, the Bozhong 26-6 oilfield lies in the south of the Bohai Sea, with an average water depth of 22 meters. The discovery well was drilled and completed at a depth of 4,480 meters, and encountered a total of 321.3…

EU should ‘get ready’ for stagflation – US economist The Eurozone is on the verge of stagflation, renowned US economist Jeffrey Sachs has warned on his YouTube channel. Stagflation refers to a period of stagnant economic growth combined with persistently high inflation and a sharp rise in unemployment. According to Sachs, who was the mastermind behind “shock therapy” reforms in the 1990s in Russia, the recent slowing in headline inflation in the euro area is a temporary occurrence, as it includes highly volatile fresh food and energy prices, which change quickly. However, core inflation, which excludes these readings and therefore gives a clearer picture…

United States Army General Mark Milley made an unannounced visit to an undisclosed base in northeastern Syria on March 4 to assess the mission against ISIS and to review safeguards for American troops against attacks. During the visit, Milley, who serves as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with the commander of the U.S.-led coalition, Army Maj. Gen. Matthew McFarlane. Asked by reporters traveling with him if he believed the deployment of some 900 U.S. troops in Syria was worth the risk, Milley tied the mission to the security of the United States and its allies, saying:…

Production can be maintained due to steady demand from Asia, the Wall Street bank says Russian oil drillers can maintain high production despite numerous rounds of Western sanctions, JPMorgan projected this week, according to Reuters. The Wall Street bank pointed to growing demand for crude oil from China and India which is expected to increase collectively by 1 million barrels per day (mbd) this year. “We believe Russia will be able to maintain its oil production at pre-war levels of 10.8 mbd but will have difficulties getting back to peak pre-Covid volumes of 11.3 mbd,” JPMorgan reportedly stated. The US bank…