It’s political science, not rocket science — so success is not guaranteed! — The late Steve Jobs’ take on the law of unintended consequences comes to mind with Elon Musk’s pending takeover of Twitter: “There are downsides to everything; there are unintended consequences to everything.” Despite Musk’s eloquent statement about Twitter, “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is…

The Putin paradox — fallout from war and sanctions — could transform ex-superpower into a “supine power.” — From superpower to “supine power.” In its March 18, 2022, commentary, “Ukraine’s Defiance Could Force Putin into Talks,” the U.S. Institute of Peace concluded: “All available evidence suggests that Putin will not consider real negotiations until he realizes that his military operation is failing. After 22 days of this war…

India’s Non-Alignment Policy Prudent or Passé? — An Olympian Introduction. The Washington Post Editorial Board described the dawn of a new China-Russia-Axis (CR-Axis) in a February 7, 2022 commentary titled, “Russia and China announce a bid to make the world safe for dictatorship,” as follows: “There was potent symbolism in the warm meeting between President Xi Jinping…

A conservative Supreme Court must squash his next coup before it’s too late — Maggie Haberman of the New York Times made a rather grave revelation in her December 1, 2021 report, “Trump Tested Positive for Virus Days Before Debate, 2 Ex-Officials Say.” If what she reported is proven true, it indicates criminally negligent behavior by the former president and every member of his…

Xi’s “forward to the past” strategy seeks to transform China into neo-socialist state — An angry bear in China stocks. In late August, Ronald J. Surz, Chief investment Officer of Glidepath Wealth Management, presented an interesting hypothesis in an article, “What is China Doing to Its Stock Market and Why?” published on the Nasdaq website: “Time will tell, but China may be purposely losing…

Too much engagement, too little containment, too late… to stop the giant panda? — Bret Stephens concluded his July 5, 2021, New York Times column, “China Won’t Bury Us, Either,” with this historic recollection: “Xi Jinping may think that, one day, a disciplined and directed Chinese system will bury an aimless, unserious free world. Nikita Khrushchev once had a similar thought. …

A timely primer for a bitterly divided nation — Author’s Note: This article was first published six years ago on Memorial Day 2015 on my LinkedIn page. I am republishing it here on Medium because truth and reality have been increasingly conflated and confused over the past few years. It is critical that we recognize the distinction between truth…

Yesteryear actions spoke louder than today’s toxic words — In his Feb 22, 2021 New York Times essay, “Woke Me When It’s Over,” conservative columnist, Bret Stephens — concerned about a woke culture that was going overboard “with the new ethos of moral bullying,” — came to this rather grim conclusion: “In the game of Woke, the goal posts…

Ratings slump après Trump — could “fake news” become reality? — After a historic 64-day wait for President Biden’s first press conference on March 25, 2021, one would have expected someone in the Press Corps to ask one of those proverbial $64,000 questions. Instead, we got a largely tedious display of journalists from the so-called “liberal media” trying to outdo one…