Chinese Volunteer Army crossing the Yalu River Photo by Al Chang Photo by Douglas Duncan The Iran War is in a stalemate. Maybe a “deal” will be reached. Maybe not. Maybe fighting will break out again soon. Then maybe not. After all, we are dealing with a fickle TACO in the White House. Who may...

History works in funny ways. Sometimes, you get the feeling that you are watching a story 800-year-old unfolding in front of you – the cast is different, but the plot is the same. As the Iran war gyrates between truce and fight over the last few weeks, I read up the story of Saladin, the...

There are many ways to compare size of economies. The most common method is the nominal GDP, based on exchange rates of different currencies. By this standard, the US has the largest economy of the world at US$30.5 trillion in 2025, approximately 50% bigger than China’s US$19.4 trillion. Another popular measure is the Purchasing Power...

In May 2026, the global geopolitical landscape has been redefined by two divergent philosophies of violence. On one hand, the Russian Federation continues its slow-motion, attritional grind in Ukraine—a conflict defined by a cautious management of Western “red lines.” President Putin runs it a “special military operation”, essentially a “limited war”. On the other, Israel...