The end of May marked the death of a man who had been at the center of global affairs for decades. Zbigniew Brzezinski, born in Warsaw in the 1920s, was one of the most influential foreign policy advisers in the US, who also played a pivotal role in the drive towards further global integration.

Brzezinski earned his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1953, and subsequently became a professor at that university, before moving on teach at Columbia University. From 1966 to 1968, he was a member of the Policy Planning Council at the Department of State, and in 1968, he served as chairman of the Humphrey Foreign Policy Task Force for Hubert Humphrey's presidential campaign.

Alliances between nations are military. Without being military, they would be nothing at all. Trade agreements don't require alliances. World War I wouldn't have occurred if there had not been alliances — it was built upon alliances. It was not built on trade agreements. It wasn't even built on trading-blocs.

In fact, as the WTO (World Trade Organization) has said:

In the two decades prior to World War I, a number of tariff wars broke out, usually provoked by the establishment of a new, more protectionist tariff, or in the course of renegotiation of bilateral treaties. After the expiry of a treaty, tariffs were often raised temporarily as a means of improving negotiating leverage. ... Despite the widespread increase of protectionist measures before World War I in continental Europe, the United States, Argentina and other countries, world trade continued to expand rapidly.

It goes on to observe: «Even though the contention that trade and peace dovetail is still very present today, it is not uncontested on theoretical and empirical grounds. ... Empirical evidence appears to generally support the idea that increasing bilateral trade reduces the risk of bilateral conflicts. But studies can be found that support either side of the argument, predicting both a negative and positive relationship between trade and war».

World War III, too — a nuclear war — could be built upon alliances, which are now even more complex and unpredictable than ever. But that's not the only danger.

A barbed criticism aimed at the International Socialist Organization, shown nearby, under the heading "If the ISO Existed in 1865" encompasses a truth about the orientation of large parts of the Western Left to the Arab nationalist government in Damascus. The truth revealed in the graphic is that the ISO and its cognates will leave no stone unturned in their search for an indigenous Syrian force to support that has taken up arms against Damascus, even to the point of insisting that a group worthy of support must surely exist, even if it can't be identified.

Of course, Washington lends a hand, helpfully denominating its proxies in the most laudatory terms. Islamist insurgents in Syria, mainly Al Qaeda, were not too many years ago celebrated as a pro-democracy movement, and when that deception proved no longer tenable, as moderates. Now that the so-called moderates have been exposed as the very opposite, many Leftists cling to the hope that amid the Islamist opponents of Syria's secular, Arab socialist, government, can be found votaries of the enlightenment values Damascus already embraces. Surely somewhere there exist armed anti-government secular Leftists to rally behind; for it appears that the goal is to find a reason, any reason, no matter how tenuous, to create a nimbus of moral excellence around some group that opposes with arms the government in Damascus; some group that can be made to appear to be non-sectarian, anti-imperialist, socialist, committed to the rights of women and minorities, and pro-Palestinian; in other words, a group just like Syria's Ba'ath Arab Socialists, except not them.

Stepping forward to fulfill that hope is the PKK, an anarchist guerrilla group demonized as a terrorist organization when operating in Turkey against a US ally, but which goes by the name of the YPG in Syria, where it is the principal component of the lionized "Syrian Democratic Force." So appealing is the YPG to many Western Leftists that some have gone so far as to volunteer to fight in its units. But is the YPG the great hope it's believed it to be?

Indonesia is blocking access to web versions of the encrypted messaging service, Telegram, citing concerns the app is being used to spread "terrorist propaganda."

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology issued a statement Friday, confirming that it had asked internet companies to block access to eleven addresses that the web version is available through.

The government is preparing for a total ban of the service if Telegram does not deal appropriately with unlawful content, Director General of Informatics Applications Semuel Pangerapan added.

"This blocking must be done because the many channels in the service are propaganda of radicalism, terrorism, hatred, invitation or how to assemble bombs, how to attack, disturbing images, and others that are contrary to Indonesian laws and regulations."

The statement added that the service, founded by Russian brothers Pavel and Nikolay Durov in 2013, was a threat to the security of the state as it does not offer 'Standard Operating Procedures' in the handling of terrorism cases.

Despite the spits and spurts of World War Three, it seems the United States (at least part of the establishment) and Russia are beginning to move toward a cooling of their approaches to the Syrian crisis. While we have seen this many times in the past - the apparent mutual understanding of Russia and the U.S. - we have been consistently been rattled by an abrupt push by the United States toward a greater involvement in Syria and a push that could very well be the catalyst for a third world war.

While there obviously remains the possibility that the United States will once again lash out like a dying lunatic empire, risking the lives of everyone on earth, we might also ask whether or not the U.S. has had a change in strategy or even perhaps whether or not the American "Plan B" is coming to fruition.

U.S. Bases In Syria Set The Borders For A Federalized Country

The United States is currently, by stealth, setting up a situation in which it is firmly entrenched in its illegal occupation of Syrian territory. The American bases in Syria which have now reached a count of eight, possibly even nine according to some sources, follow along a distinct line of what will be the formation of the borders of a fractured Syria and the creation of a Kurdistan. Combined with Israel's illegal occupation of the Golan Heights, the United States has set up a number of bases that traverse Kurdish held territory both in the North near Ayn al-Arab (Kobane) and all along the Turkish border as well as throughout the southeast of the country in territory taken by the Syria Democratic Forces, a brigade of fighters made up of Kurdish extremists and Islamic terrorists.

As Air Force One flew home from Europe, news was set to break about a meeting that Donald Trump's eldest son had with a Kremlin-connected lawyer, promising yet another round of unwelcome headlines about the president and Russia. And that happened twice within a week.

The day-after-day drip-drip-drip of revelations over the past week about Donald Trump Jr.'s contact with the Russian lawyer in 2016 underscores the White House's inability to shake off the Russia story and close the book on a narrative that casts a shadow over Trump's presidency. No matter how presidential Trump may have looked on his back-to-back trips to Europe in recent days, the persistent questions about connections between Trump's team and Russia prevent him from savoring a public relations victory and building momentum for his stalled legislative agenda.

"Omissions are as harmful as contradictions because it seems like you're hiding something," Ari Fleischer, former press secretary to President George W. Bush, said of the Trump team's strategy. "From a communications standpoint, it's unforgivable."

Indeed, Trump Jr.'s account of his Trump Tower meeting has seemingly changed on an almost daily basis. At first, the meeting was said to be about a Russian adoption program. Then, it was to hear information about campaign rival Hillary Clinton. Finally, Trump Jr. was forced to release emails — mere moments before The New York Times planned to do so — that revealed he had told an associate that he would "love" Russia's help in obtaining negative details about the Democratic nominee.

The leader of Kurdistan Iraq, President Masoud Barzani, has called for a (second) general referendum on Independence, setting the date as 25th of September this year. He is determined to materialise the dream of establishing a Kurdish state in the Middle East.

This coincides with support from the US administration for Kurdish Syrians in al-Hasaka, Raqqah and Deir al-Zour northern provinces. The aim is to see another Kurdish Federation that can follow the path or even precede their Iraqi "brothers".

Both the steps in Iraq and Syria relating to the Kurds are linked, regardless of borders. Nevertheless, the regional countries directly concerned - i.e. Ankara, Tehran, Baghdad and Damascus - believe that it is the US's intention to reshape the region and form a "new Middle East," as promoted during President George Bush's era by ex-US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Will the countries, which are neighbours to the Kurds, allow the US to divide the Middle East by taking advantage of 22-25 million enthusiastic and committed Kurds, dreaming of having their own state?

Ongoing conflicts between India and China are firmly rooted in Nahrendra Modi's inability to compromise on the Silk Road Initiative.

Tarry a little, there is something else.
This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood;
The words expressly are "a pound of flesh."
—Portia, The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene II

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has turned on his former One Belt, One Road (OBOR) allies, arrogantly demanding a pound of flesh from the People's Republic of China. As of late, Sino-Indian tensions have become inexplicably enflamed to pre-1962 levels, with border clashes erupting shortly after China began constructing an innocuous road through Bhutan.

"Diplomatic observers [...] said they were surprised that China's [project] in the Donglang area [...] so quickly turned into the biggest military stand-off between the two armies in years," SCMP noted.

The Washington Post also referenced the skirmishes as a pretext for rubber stamping ties with President Donald Trump, with Modi citing security fears to garner lucrative defence contracts.

"Beyond [defence] sales, however, the conversational landscape is bleak," WP chided.

Following his US visit, Modi achieved historic lows as the first Indian PM to visit Israel, striking a 500 million USD arms deal with his counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu. The two have been deepening cooperation between since Modi assumed office in 2014, and have been ramping up their effeminate bromance to epic proportions.

"According to Israeli media, the value of military exchanges between New Delhi and Tel Aviv amounts to one billion dollars each year," PressTV mentioned.

Furthermore, in May 2017, Modi sloppily pieced together a One Belt, One Road 'alternative' with Japanese President Shinzo Abe after recoiling in indignation from the Chinese-led initiative.

"[...] it is still in the drafting stage and at least a year away from being committed to [and], there is no mention of any level of investment that would follow through," Business Standard highlights.

Covering the recent battle for the city of Marawi on Mindanao Island in the Southern Philippines, the Western media has been grossly exaggerating unconfirmed reports, rumors, as well as twisted 'facts.' At the beginning of July, I visited Mindanao as one of only a few foreigners allowed inside the besieged city of Marawi and to its surrounding area.

I spoke to local people, to the IDPs - those who managed to escape the city taken over by the jihadists. I also managed to discuss the situation with the highest commanders of the military in charge of the combat, including General Ramiro Rey and Lt. Colonel Jo-Ar Herrera. I encountered many soldiers, civil servants, and relief workers.
My contacts in the capital informed me via text messages that I had been "red-flagged," clearly by the pro-US faction in the Philippine military. So before my presence was finally cleared from Manila, I was detained and held in a provisional military base in the city of Saguiaran. Here I was "softly" interrogated by military intelligence. A few steps away, a howitzer was firing artillery toward ISIS positions in Marawi, some 10 kilometers distant.

While the US troops on the borders of Russia and Iran are generally considered intimidation/provocation tactics aimed at Moscow and Tehran, the broader reality is that America intends to use its troops as speed-bumps in China's New Silk Road.

NATO's recent land and sea exercises in eastern and southern Europe as well as the Black Sea frontiers of Eurasia are at face value, provocations designed to anger and intimidate Russia. Likewise, America's presence in Iraq and Syria are at face value, provocations designed to angry and intimidate Iran. But they are also something else: they are provocations designed to anger and intimidate China.

The key element here lies in understanding the geography of China's massive trade/commerce project, One Belt - One Road, also referred to as the New Silk Road.