John Metzler

Amid pomp, pageantry and proletarian parades, China’s President Xi Jinping kicked off festivities celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CCP).

Were there great expectations for the summit meeting in Geneva between President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin?

Economic growth is making a long-awaited rebound after the height of the global pandemic; yet the recovery is still shadowed by serious and ongoing concerns overactive Corona virus outbreaks and the danger of flareups on the international scene.

Though Beijing is usually able to control or stifle the narrative inside the United Nations and many of its Committees, the oxygen of free speech on the taboo topic of human rights of China’s Muslim minority was able to seep through and be heard.

This didn’t have to happen. But blame toxic politics, the living legacy of the populist Peronist era, and the tipping point of the Corona pandemic, and you discover what is unraveling Argentina’s socio/economic fabric.

“Your papers Please,” has long been the customary greeting for people crossing borders, visiting many foreign countries, or sometimes even moving about cities under Covid “lockdown.”

Is the Biden administration tone deaf? September 11th? We are out of Afghanistan by the very day global terrorists celebrate as the date they attacked America? That sinister date signals the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks and is not the time to send this message.

A page has turned on the House of Windsor. Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, has died at 99 just short of his hundredth birthday.

Storm clouds are gathering along Mozambique’s northern coast. Islamic State militants launched a coordinated and deadly assault on the town of Palma, nearby a multi-billion dollar natural gas complex being built by France’s Total energy.

Amid the theatrical fanfare and political pomp, China’s annual “National People’s Congress” met in Beijing to dutifully endorse the ruling Communist Party’s (CCP) vision for the future.

More than a month after the military overthrew Burma’s elected government, the situation in the South East Asian country aka Myanmar remains “fragile and fluid,” according to the UN’s Special Envoy Christine Schraner Burgener.

A decade has passed since the Syrian conflict began. More than 500,000 people have been killed and millions more displaced.

When the new Biden Administration spoke grandly of “restoring America's place in the world,” that bold new relationship with Canada restarted with an insult.

Massive worldwide economic disruptions and setbacks continue as the COVID-19 pandemic sweeps the globe, devastating commerce, industry and people’s livelihoods. And even with modest economic gains expected this year in many developed countries, the virus and vaccines to counter COVID will ultimately set the agenda for success or failure.

Look, WHO’s back in Washington’s good graces!