As with the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, the Russian decision on tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus is retaliatory, drawing attention to the US missiles stationed close to its borders

The specter that is haunting Washington is that the stabilization of Syria following Assad’s normalization with the Arab countries and with Turkey will inexorably coalesce into a Syrian settlement that completely marginalizes the “collective West” 

Evidently, the regional states are tapping the “feel-good” generated by the Saudi-Iranian deal. There are signs of an overall easing of tensions

The Anglo-Saxon clique is watching with dismay the talks in Moscow between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. To be sure, Moscow and Beijing have decided to stand together to bury the US hegemony

Can German Chancellor Olaf Scholz survive the deception over Nord Stream sabotage? If Ukraine is implicated, there is no going back for Germany

Looking ahead, the real danger is that, having failed to get the Taliban to bend while also unable to build an anti-Taliban resistance movement or incite the Central Asian states to decouple from Moscow and Beijing, the US and its allies may now be left with the only remaining option, which is to create anarchical conditions in Afghanistan where there are no winners

Washington is increasingly left with no option but to stir up the Syrian pot again and create turmoil with a view to creating an alibi for the continued occupation of the country

What complicates matters is an emerging divide in Europe over how to end the war. While Old Europeans, including Scholz, are urging peace talks now, the Russophobic East European and Baltic leaderships are clamoring for Russia’s defeat and a regime change in Moscow

Russia and China have agreed to consolidate and develop their comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era and to continue to closely coordinate their foreign policy efforts. The forthcoming visit by Xi Jinping to Moscow, likely to take place next month, will be a defining moment

The three-day state visit by Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi to China on February 14-16 will have a deep impact on regional politics and international security

There is no more talk in Western media about destroying the Russian “war machinery” or an insurrection against the Kremlin and a regime change

The balloon affair can be regarded as a defining moment. It exposes that while China was approaching Blinken’s visit in good faith with the purpose of finding constructive ways forward, Washington didn’t view things the same way