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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Having scorned Biden, Saudis roll out red carpet for Xi

A powerful wind from the East is blowing across the Arabian desert. During a significant but overlooked three-day visit to Saudi Arabia, China’s leader Xi Jinping has scored a “strategic partnership” with oil rich and strategic Saudi Arabia.

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Why does Biden administration want to buy Venezuelan oil?

During the Thanksgiving holiday, the Biden Administration announced it was quietly reversing policy and allowing limited petroleum imports from Venezuela.

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Iranian women pull back the veil on hated regime

The women’s led uprising against Iran’s Islamic Republic continues. Under the inspiring slogan Woman, Life, Freedom, the movement confronting Teheran’s theocratic regime is widening and now had gained vital political support from key Western countries many of whom long rationalized their political and business links with Iran.

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Diplomacy helps 'breadbasket of Europe' get harvest to market

Some good news from war weary Ukraine! And actually even better news for many developing countries dependent on Ukrainian food and fertilizer shipments which faced Russian naval blockades until mid-Summer.

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United Nations elects new human rights guardians

The UN General Assembly just concluded its election for fourteen new members in the Human Rights Council.  Delegates have chosen a conclave of candidates who sit in somber judgement of global freedoms and virtues, though ironically, many of these new members selected are actually among the very abusers and rights violators the Council is presumably monitoring.

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Trump-era calm over: N. Korea returns to missile diplomacy

In a strange but not unexpected twist to a world in turmoil, North Korea’s bellicose leadership has carried out a series of missile tests, not seen since 2017.

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As protests shake Iran, U.S. envoys don't walk out at UN

Massive and spreading protests have rocked Iran in the wake of widening social discontent following the death of a woman Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody. Her crime? Not wearing the obligatory headscarf properly.

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Elizabeth II: Era ends, 'Cool Britannia' enters uncertain times

The Queen has died; the page of history has turned. The passing of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest serving monarch, has shocked and saddened much of the world despite the sovereign’s declining health and her 96 years of age. Just months after having joyfully celebrated her platinum Jubilee commemorating 70 years on the British throne, she has passed.

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UN Assembly opens amid widening global turbulence

Presidents, Prime Ministers, Potentates and Kings have assembled in New York for the opening sessions of the 77th UN General Assembly. The annual event, which was sidelined and subdued by the COVID pandemic, seems to be back in stride but lacking a bit of the buzz and expectations of previous years.

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Afghanistan crisis worsens one year after Taliban takeover

One year after the appalling collapse of Afghanistan into the hands of the Taliban insurgents, the humanitarian crisis in that beleaguered South Asian country has gone from bad to worse. 

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Ukraine: Tiptoeing around a wider tragedy

As Vladimir Putin’s war continues against Ukraine, there’s now a grim acceptance of tragedy; targeted civilians, wrecked cities and the threat from Russia’s nuclear weapons.

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Summer in France: Idyllic, but a chilling Euro winter looms

It’s been a strange and uncertain summer, bookmarked by high temperatures, torrid inflation, and a very hot war on Europe’s eastern doorstep.

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The Beijing dragon blinks, but this is not over yet

Despite their huffing, puffing, and threatening, regarding the short but symbolic visit of U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to what China deems a “renegade province,” Taiwan, the Beijing Dragon blinked.

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Siege of Ukraine supply of food to the world is broken?

In what he optimistically called a “beacon of hope” in a world that desperately needs it, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres helped broker a complicated diplomatic deal between warring parties Russia and Ukraine.

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As Russia tightens the vice, Trump's warning recalled

This was a crisis waiting to happen. Europe’s unfolding energy emergency was long in coming but at the same time widely encouraged by Western European states all too eager to embrace Russia’s cheap and available natural gas delivered to the European Union’s doorstep by a spiderweb of pipelines some dating from the Soviet era.

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