John Metzler

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John J. Metzler is a longtime U.N. correspondent who has reported from fifty-five countries and regularly visits Europe and the Far East to observe national elections, conflicts, and economic development.

He is the author of Divided Dynamism; The Diplomacy of Separated Nations Germany, Korea and China (University Press of America, 1996). Mr. Metzler writes weekly for Free Press International.

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The world of 2020: Standoffs, abuse, hope

FPI / By John J. Metzler NEW YORK — Peering into the crystal snow globe, it’s time to predict, prognosticate and presage into the year ahead. Without a pun we need the proverbial 2020 vision to decipher the political and security landscape that awaits us in the new year with both long running static conflicts […]

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North Korea: From ‘delicate path of dialogue’ to brinksmanship

FPI / December 15, 2019 By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — While dictator Kim Jung-Un is huffing and puffing about arbitrary deadlines to diplomatic negotiations between the United States and North Korea concerning Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile proliferation, the UN Security Council met to deliver a unified call for peace and disarmament on […]

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Time for a deal with the ‘relentless and violent’ Taliban

FPI / December 8, 2019 By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — President Donald Trump put Afghanistan back in the news again after his surprise Thanksgiving visit to U.S. troops stationed in the embattled South Asian country. Besides bringing holiday cheer for American forces serving in the eighteen-year long conflict, the President again offered a […]

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Media silent on victims of global Christian persecution

FPI / November 24, 2019 By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — The stunning silence of the mainstream media which often overlooks ongoing anti-religious violence has become a sad barometer of our secular societies. Clearly, while most of the attacks are “somewhere else” be it the Middle East, Africa or South Asia, the media template […]

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UN rebukes North Korea on rights, missiles; South abstains

FPI / November 24, 2019 By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Though out of the limelight for nearly a year, North Korea’s quiet and covert push for intercontinental ballistic missile capability along with the communist regime’s continuing political crackdown on its own population has not abated. While tough American diplomacy has pressured Kim Jong-Un’s […]

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In November 1989, a political tsunami toppled the wall

FPI / November 11, 2019 By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Thirty years ago on Nov. 9 1989, the world suddenly changed. Mass civil and religious demonstrations rocking East German cities created a political tsunami which soon reached Berlin. Berlin, the divided city and German capital at the epicenter of the Cold War, would […]

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Global angst: The masses are infuriated

FPI / November 1, 2019 By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — From Hong Kong to Barcelona, and from Beirut to Bolivia and Chile, a global rage seems to be boiling over. It ranges from Hong’s Kong’s pro-democracy pushback to Beijing’s dour diktats, to Spain’s Catalonia region’s revived separatism against the central government, to Beirut’s […]

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Rohingya still in Burma fact ‘risk of renewed genocide’

FPI / November 1, 2019 By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — In a stunningly gloomy presentation, UN human rights experts reviewed the situation in Myanmar/aka Burma, the Southeast Asian country where the government continues to persecute, harass and eliminate members of minority religious groups, especially the Muslim Rohingya. An already bad human rights situation […]

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UN rights council winners: Venezuela, Libya, Sudan, Mauritania

FPI / October 17, 2019 By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — You can’t make this up. Venezuela, a state marred by widespread human rights abuses, one whose government has created humanitarian violations and then callously blocked international humanitarian aid, has won a contested seat on the UN’s Human Rights Council in a three-way race […]

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Cash crunch at UN; China now 2nd largest contributor

FPI / October 17, 2019 By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Is the United Nations going broke? Well yes and no. The 193-member multinational organization is facing a serious cash crunch which has hampered the day to day operations of the world body but nonetheless may be resolved relatively soon when the United States, […]

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Hungary acts to help persecuted Christians

FPI / October 9, 2019 By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Sustained and increasing attacks on Christian minorities from the Middle East to West Africa are often tragically overlooked by the mainstream media, underscoring an aura of hypocrisy and double standards towards the free practice of religion. Yet, some are pushing back to this […]

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U.S. resorts to diplomatic strength to deter Iran

FPI / September 30, 2019 By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — In the wake of Iranian initiated missile/drone attacks which significantly crippled the Saudi Arabian petroleum industry and threatened to bring the Persian Gulf region closer to the brink of a military confrontation, the Trump Administration and its allies have pursued a tough but […]

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Arctic strategy: Why was President Trump serious about Greenland?

FPI / August 21, 2019 By John J. Metzler New York — It’s the summer silly season in the media; see what purports to be serious news from the eternal campaigning for the Iowa Caucuses, to bizarre Washington antics. And then, there’s the wildest of all: Donald Trump wants to buy Greenland! Given that most […]

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From Xinjiang to Hong Kong, Communist China won’t tolerate dissent

FPI / By John J. Metzler PARIS — It’s never polite to question the deteriorating human rights situation in China but let’s do it anyway. The hidden and systematic repression of ethnic Uighur Muslims in China’s western Xinjiang province and the high profile crackdown on pro-demonstrators in Hong Kong, many of them Christian, are both […]

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Paris when it sizzles

FPI / By John J. Metzler PARIS — A Summer heatwave has enveloped the French capital in a blanket of dry heat. Following a Winter and Spring of churning discontent from the Yellow Vests, Gilet Jaunes, anti-government demonstrations, the current vacation season should have come as a welcome respite to the protest weary French. And […]

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