• Hungary may build a second 'massive' fence to block migrants from Serbia
  
• Greece makes contingency plans for 180,000 more migrants
  
• Increasing anger in Turkey threatens the EU-Turkey migrant deal
  

• Europe promised 3 billion euros in aid for Syrian refugees in
  Turkey. That money was due months ago, and has not been paid.
  
  
• Under the deal, Europe agreed to take 72,000 of the most
  vulnerable refugees, but has only accepted 1,000 so far.
  
  
• Under the deal, the Europe promised visa-free travel for all
  Turkish citizens in Europe's Schengen Zone by June, and that visa
  liberalization has not yet taken place.

• Turkey's invasion of Syria continues, bombing Kurdish targets
  
• America may be forced to choose between Turkey and Kurds
  

• Increasing anger in Turkey threatens the EU-Turkey migrant deal (28-Aug)
  
  
• US VP Biden snubbed by Turkey's angry president Erdogan (25-Aug)
  
  
• How Turkey changed in five months (2-Nov-15)
  

• Hong Kong's pro-democracy 'Umbrella Movement' is viewed as a failure
  
• Beijing 'thuggery' motivates the rise of the independence movement
  
• Hong Kong debates the independence movement
  
• Hong Kong police prepare for election day riots from pro-independence activists
  

• Pro-democracy protests bring Hong Kong to a standstill (29-Sep-2014)
  
  
• Hong Kong police clash with protesters, worst violence in weeks (1-Dec-2014)
  
  
• Taiwan voters choose independence from China (30-Nov-2014)
  

• Uzbekistan's dictator president Karimov suffers stroke, threatening Central Asia stability
  
• Brief generational history of Uzbekistan
  

• Uzbekistan closes border to refugees from Kyrgyzstan (15-Jun-2010)
  
  
• Jihadists from New York to Uzbekistan flock to Syria to fight (21-May-2014)
  
  
• Islamist Uzbeks lead terrorists in Pakistan and Afghanistan (2-Nov-2009)
  

• Fault lines: Saudi Arabia-China-Pakistan and India-U.S. continue to harden
  
• Saudi Arabia and China sign economic and military agreements
  
• Saudi Arabia and Pakistan discuss economic and military ties
  
• U.S. and India sign a landmark defense agreement
  

• Obama's failure to support Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak during the
  Arab Spring;
  
  
• Obama’s reversal of his “red line” decision to strike Bashar
  al-Assad, after the latter used Sarin gas on his own people, and
  continues to use chlorine gas on his own people with impunity;
  and
  
  
• The lifting of sanctions on Iran in conjunction with the nuclear
  deal.

• China is improving ties with Iran as well as with Saudi
  Arabia.
  
  
• China and Saudi Arabia do not see eye to eye on the war in Syria,
  with China largely siding with Russia and Bashar al-Assad.
  
  
• Most important, China has shown neither the willingness nor the
  capability to take over the role the US has played in the region,
  though that could change if the next US president continues the policy
  adopted by President Obama of withdrawing from the Mideast.

(09-01-2016, 09:26 AM)John J. Xenakis Wrote: I never refer to cultural/political alignments.  I do refer to
identity groups, but those are based on history.  Cultural
relationships are often the most vitriolic, as can be seen in any
divorce court.  On the other hand, sometimes the people who stab you
in the back are the ones that you're emotionally dependent on, since
the sex is so good after you make up.

There's absolutely no history to support the belief that Russia and
China are going to be united on anything except ephemerally.  They
hate each other, they've been in massive bloody wars with each other
for centuries, and they were close to war as recently as 1970.  China
is totally disgusted with Russia for the collapse of Russia's
communist party.  Their respective client states, India and Pakistan,
are close to thermonuclear war.  They're competing for resources in
Russia's Far East and in Central Asia.  Russia is on Vietnam's side in
the South China Sea.

They only have one thing in common.  They're both imitating Hitler by
annexing regions belonging to other nations, they're both contemptuous
of the United States and the United Nations.  Those "commonalities"
could dissolve at a moment's notice.

Actually, they do have one more thing in common.  They both want to
kill jihadists in Syria - Caucasians and Uighurs.  But China is allied
with Saudi Arabia and Russia is allied with Iran, so that part of
Utopia won't last for long either.

As for domestic politics, Chaos Theory tells us that you can't predict
elections.

(09-01-2016, 09:26 AM)John J. Xenakis Wrote: I never refer to cultural/political alignments.  I do refer to
identity groups, but those are based on history.  Cultural
relationships are often the most vitriolic, as can be seen in any
divorce court.  On the other hand, sometimes the people who stab you
in the back are the ones that you're emotionally dependent on, since
the sex is so good after you make up.

There's absolutely no history to support the belief that Russia and
China are going to be united on anything except ephemerally.  They
hate each other, they've been in massive bloody wars with each other
for centuries, and they were close to war as recently as 1970.  China
is totally disgusted with Russia for the collapse of Russia's
communist party.  Their respective client states, India and Pakistan,
are close to thermonuclear war.  They're competing for resources in
Russia's Far East and in Central Asia.  Russia is on Vietnam's side in
the South China Sea.

They only have one thing in common.  They're both imitating Hitler by
annexing regions belonging to other nations, they're both contemptuous
of the United States and the United Nations.  Those "commonalities"
could dissolve at a moment's notice.

Actually, they do have one more thing in common.  They both want to
kill jihadists in Syria - Caucasians and Uighurs.  But China is allied
with Saudi Arabia and Russia is allied with Iran, so that part of
Utopia won't last for long either.

As for domestic politics, Chaos Theory tells us that you can't predict
elections.

• UK's National Health Service continues to slash services to survive
  
• UK's 'junior doctors' call a devastating 5-day strike against the National Health Service
  
• Obamacare in severe death spiral, as insurers bleed billions
  

• Venezuela economy close to collapse as Maduro orders jailing of factory owners (15-May-2016)
  
  
• Healthcare.gov -- The greatest software development disaster in history (23-Aug-2015)
  
• Obamacare: 500M lines of code, $500M, only 60% completed (1-Dec-2013)
  
  
• History of President Richard Nixon's Wage-Price Controls (5-Jul-13)
  
  
• Obama's health plan, a proposal of economic insanity (25-July-2009)
  

• Japan and Russia may settle post-World War II Kuril Islands dispute
  
• Reading between the lines: Russia, Japan, China, India and border disputes
  

• Philippines humiliates China in harsh Hague Tribunal ruling over South China Sea (13-July)
  
  
• Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China sign economic and military agreements (1-Sep)
  

(09-02-2016, 06:11 PM)Cynic Hero 86 Wrote: > There is one prediction that JohnX made ten years ago that he got
> right: Xers and Millennials will identify with the GOP instead of
> with democrats. He Just did not realize that it was not the GOP of
> Bush that millies will embrace; instead it was the GOP of
> TRUMP.

• Turkey sends more tanks into Syria in 'New Phase' of military action
  
• Syrian rebels capture 14 villages near Hama in four days
  
• Bashar al-Assad's Syrian army once again close to collapse
  

• Migrants from Libya to Italy surge in the Mediterranean
  
• Anti-immigrant party in Germany hands Angela Merkel a stinging defeat
  

• Number of migrants reaching Greece surges since Turkey's attempted coup (18-Aug-2016)
  
  
• Increasing anger in Turkey threatens the EU-Turkey migrant deal (28-Aug-2016)
  

• Stephen K. Bannon is named chairman of Donald Trump's campaign (19-Aug-2016)
  
  
• Migration crisis signals historic shifts in Europe and Mideast (24-Jan-2016)
  
  
• Germany's Angela Merkel under pressure to restrict migrants (20-Jan-2016)
  

• Sharply polarized Hong Kong electorate hands Beijing a stinging setback
  
• China's relations with Hong Kong and Taiwan set to become more tense
  

• China's 'thuggery' transforms Hong Kong's Umbrella Movement into independence movement (30-Aug-2016)
  
  
• Taiwan's pro-independence party wins historic presidential election (17-Jan-2016)
  
  
• Taiwan voters choose independence from China (30-Nov-2014)
  

• Syrian regime drops chlorine-laded barrel bomb on Aleppo market
  
• From 2013: The history of how Syria's Bashar al-Assad created ISIS
  

• Darfur in Sudan facing new genocide as refugees are expelled from camps
  
• Generational history of the Darfur war
  

• Jesse Jackson calls for sending American troops to Darfur (27-Jul-2004)
  
  
• Women's groups protest rape as a weapon of war in Darfur (11-Dec-2006)
  
  
• Senator Joe Biden wants to move troops from Iraq to Darfur civil war (29-Apr-2007)
  
  
• Ban Ki Moon blames Darfur genocide on global warming / Detailed history of Darfur war (19-Jun-2007)
  

• Two million Muslims -- but no Iranians -- begin the Hajj pilgrimage on Friday
  
• Saudi Arabia makes a dangerous accusation - that Iranians are 'not Muslims'
  
• Obama warns China not to ignore the Hague tribunal ruling on South China Sea
  

• After Hajj stampede disaster, Muslims debate the 'Will of Allah' (27-Sep-2015)
  
  
• Pakistan tries to mediate between Saudi Arabia and Iran (18-Jan-2016)
  
  
• Increasingly hostile Iran-Saudi relations affect this year's Hajj (27-May-2016)
  

• China's 'ironclad proof' of South China Sea claims revealed as hoax (22-Jun-2016)
  
  
• South China Sea: China's list of supporters is found to be delusional (24-Jun-2016)
  
  
• Philippines humiliates China in harsh Hague Tribunal ruling over South China Sea (13-Jul-2016)
  
  
• China's military deploys bombers and closes part of the South China Sea (19-Jul-2016)
  

• Turkey presses to establish a 'no-fly zone' in northern Syria
  
• Turkey's forces and Kurdish forces set to clash in Manbij
  
• US and Russia once again announced a peace deal in Syria
  

• Turkey's 'Operation Euphrates Shield' turns into full-scale invasion of Syria (26-Aug-2016)
  
  
• Turkey's Erdogan announces a complete U-turn on Syria policy (22-Aug-2016)
  

• Wild celebrations in Manbij Syria, after major defeat for ISIS (14-Aug-2016)
  
  
• Turkey doubles down on shelling Kurds in Syria (15-Feb-2016)
  

• 18-May-16 Syria peace talks in Vienna collapse in farce - again (18-May-2016)
  
  
• During 'peace process' Turkey bombs ISIS targets in northern Syria to set up 'safe zone' (26-Jul-2015)