International

Two times twenty years

The new treaty between China and Russia

by Wilfried Schreiber,* Germany

(18 November 2021) In view of the disaster of the twenty-year Western military presence in Afghanistan, an event on the political-diplomatic level has gone unnoticed in this country, but its geostrategic dimension is just as significant. It is the extension of the "Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China" for another 20 years. The treaty extension of June 2021 and the joint declaration of both countries could be useful in coming to terms with the war in Afghanistan.

China in the light of the German leading media

Spreading colonial stereotypes and creating an enemy stereotype

Own report of the editorial staff of “German Foreign Policy”

(18 November 2021) A recent study gives the China coverage of the German leading media a disastrous report. According to a comprehensive analysis presented by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (Die Linke), the predominant reporting on China is “characterised by an increased use of clichés and stereotypes, some of which date back to colonial times”.

Biden’s Taiwan gaffe meant no harm

by M. K. Bhadrakumar *

(5 November 2021) The probability is that the US President Joe Biden committed yet another diplomatic gaffe at a CNN town hall last Thursday [21 October] that Washington had a commitment to come to Taiwan’s defence if it were attacked by China.

Yet, like Biden’s gaffes usually, this one too was not without an element of deliberateness. Biden was even insistent. Indeed, there is an ongoing debate in the US on this topic and Biden tapped into it.

Reflections on Events in Afghanistan – 29

Taliban is the winner at Moscow conference

by M. K. Bhadrakumar*

The Moscow meeting of ten regional states and the Taliban officials on 22 October has produced an outcome that by far exceeds expectations. The salience of the consensus opinion is four-fold, as reflected in the joint statement issued after the event:

CDU/CSU sends incessant "SOS"

by Willy Wimmer,* Germany

(27 October 2021) If the CDU/CSU wants to make itself politically capable of acting once again in the future, all the leaders who made the path to Ms. Dr Merkel’s doom possible in the first place through cowardice, irresponsibility and cowarding should be put on the political siding.

Unholy Trinity? Neoliberalism – 9/11 – Afghanistan

by Wolfgang Effenberger1

(24 October 2021) On 30 August – one day before the definitive withdrawal of the USA from Afghanistan – the pro-war article “Für Dich zieh ich in den Krieg” (I'm going to war for you) by Anne Applebaum, a writer for “The Atlantic”, appeared in the “ipg-journal” of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Germany [associated with the Social Democratic Party of Germany, edit.]. It was preceded by the picture below with the caption: “Enough talking”.