Author: Steven Sahiounie

The Taiwan Strait won’t become a significant obstacle for the armed forces of mainland China should an armed conflict between Beijing and Taipei break out, and US support won’t help Taiwan either, Beijing’s The Global Times newspaper wrote on Wednesday, reflecting the opinion of China’s military and political circles. “Today, the military capability comparison between the Chinese mainland and the island of Taiwan is completely different from that of 18 years ago,” the newspaper’s editorial said. The article emphasizes that “the mainland doesn’t want to fight a war. It has the will to safeguard peace and take war as the last resort.”…

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier presented Chancellor Angela Merkel and members of her cabinet with official resignation papers; the outgoing Chancellor and her cabinet will continue to act as interim government until the new cabinet is established. The presentation ceremony was aired by NTV. “A lot happened during the last four years. To say that the previous legislative period was difficult, considering the tasks that had to be solved, does not nearly reflect the real state of affairs,” the German President noted. According to Steinmeier, “the pandemic turned the world upside down.” “It took huge efforts from you, from the entire…

At least 11 people were martyred late Tuesday in an ISIS attack on a village in eastern Iraq. The attack on Al-Rashad in Diyala province left “11 martyred and 13 wounded, including women and children “, according to a local security source. The area has been sealed off and reinforcements were deployed to hunt the ISIS members.On his account, Iraqi President Barham Salih strongly denounced the attack, describing it as a “cowardly act” aimed at destabilizing the country.  “The cowardly terrorist attack against our people in Diyala is an appalling attempt to destabilize the country. It is a reminder of…

The occupation’s al-Quds municipality resumed on Tuesday digging operations in the al-Yusufiya cemetery in occupied Jerusalem, in order to open a public park. Occupation vehicles surrounded the land it intends to turn into a park as part of its “Torah Gardens” project. “Israel’s” unethical demolition of the graves is based on claims that the area “belonged to Jews” in old times. Israeli occupation forces assaulted residents opposing the demolition of the Islamic cemetery, and the defacing of the graves and headstones of their children. In a related context, settlers stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque under the protection of Israeli occupation police.source :…

Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan, in an exclusive interview with Al Mayadeen, stressed that “It is not permissible to link the investigation of the August 4’s Beirut Port explosion to the Tayouneh ambush in the capital, Beirut, which occurred on October 14.” Arslan added, in the Tuesday interview, that “What happened in Tayouneh is not an individual incident, but rather an incident that threatens civil peace and coexistence.” He considered that “If we do not deal with what happened in a radical way, we might see other similar events to the Tayouneh ambush.” Arslan expressed his support for the Secretary-General of…

Yemeni forces have liberated another district capital in the strategic west-central province of Ma’rib, killing dozens of Saudi-led mercenaries and forcing hundreds of others among them to surrender. Local Yemeni sources and various outlets reported the liberation of the city of al-Jadid, the capital of al-Jubah District, on Tuesday. It took the Yemen army forces and Popular Committees 48 hours to wrest back control of the city, including its center, government buildings, and the mercenaries’ camps, the sources reported. According to Iran’s Arabic-language al-Alam news network, the victory has brought the Yemeni forces within close range of Ma’rib’s provincial capital…

John Ransom is a political and financial writer and editor whose work has appeared at Townhall.com, Newsmax, the Daily Caller and IBT. He splits his time between the US and Asia. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s latest scheme to scare up new plans to fund the Biden White House’s ‘Build Back Better’ plan is to tax “unrealized capital gains” or, in plain English, money that doesn’t actually exist yet. It’s Tuesday in America, and that means that it’s another day for Democrats to play Fantasy Government, the game where we only find out what happens to the rest of us after Congress…

By Jonny Tickle Reports that the European Union is mulling the possible return of its diplomatic staff to Afghanistan in the near future are very welcome, but simply talking about it isn’t enough, a senior Russian diplomat said on Monday. Speaking at an online conference, the Russian president’s special envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov called for the bloc to return to Kabul. The EU mission’s staff fled in August when the Taliban took hold of the country, along with the envoys of most of the countries of the world. Only the Russian, Chinese, Pakistani, Kazakh and Uzbek embassies did not evacuate,…

Americans are losing confidence in President Biden’s ability to steer the US out of the Covid-19 pandemic. With Biden’s ratings in freefall, a new poll shows Democrats and independents both losing faith in an economic upturn. Fewer than half of all Americans (44%) are confident that Biden can “ensure a quick post-pandemic economic recovery,” according to an Axios/Ipsos poll published on Tuesday. While Democrats and independents are far more likely to believe this statement than Republicans, their trust is waning. Just 71% of Democrats trust Biden’s ability to get the economy back on track, compared to 86% at the beginning of his term in…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator As the US downgrades its role in the Middle East and North Africa, the regional countries are looking to forge closer ties with Russia, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. The US foreign policy in the Middle East for the last sixty years has been focused on two goals: keeping Middle East oil supplies secure for US industry and keeping Israel as a Jewish homeland. Experts watching foreign policy in the Middle East agree that the US focus now is on China, and the Asia-Pacific region. The Biden administration has made clear it seeks to…