The Unz Review:ㅤMacron’s Psycho-Play to Keep Aloft the Punctured Balloon of a ‘Geo-Political EU’, by Alastair Crooke

It seems that Marcon imagines he is playing some complicated game of psycho-deterrence with Moscow – one characterised by radical ambiguity. Charles Michel, the European Council President, has called on Europe to switch to a ‘war economy’. He justifies this call partly as urgent support for Ukraine, but more pertinently, as the need for relaunching the (beached) European economy by focussing on the defence industry. Calls ring out across Europe: ‘We are in a pre-war

The Unz Review:ㅤThe Resistance’s Disruptive Military Innovation May Determine the Fate of Israel, by Alastair Crooke

Looking back to what I wrote in 2012, in the midst of the so-called Arab Spring and its aftermath, it is striking just how much the Region has shifted. It is now almost 180° re-orientated. Then, I argued, “That the Arab Spring “Awakening” is taking a turn, very different to the excitement and promise with which it was hailed at the outset. Sired from an initial, broad popular impulse, it is becoming increasingly understood, and

The Unz Review:ㅤ’Out of Touch with Reality’ – White House Fails to Navigate the Israeli Re-calibration, by Alastair Crooke

The inattention to reality is not an electorally ‘incidental’ and irksome issue that needs better PR management by the campaign team. Alon Pinkas, a former senior Israeli diplomat, well-plugged into Washington, tells us that a frustrated White House finally has “had enough”. The rupture with Netanyahu is complete: The Prime Minister does not comport himself as ‘an U.S. ally’ should; he severely criticises Biden’s Middle East policies, and now the United States has come to

The Unz Review:ㅤ’Untenable Positions’ – Warning Signs Abound, by Alastair Crooke

The GOP base does not favour giving more cash to Ukraine – will little or no prospect that it can prevail. “Tuesday’s local elections were a flashing warning light for Israel. The ultra-Orthodox parties, the religious Zionist groups, and the far-right, racist parties – organized in a few communities and scored gains that are disproportionate to the true size of the groups they represent. Conversely, the democratic camp [largely secular liberal Ashkenazi], which for nearly