China Ignores Pope on Joint Selection of Bishops
Xi Jinping reasserts full control of Catholic Church in China despite 2018 agreement.
Italy Ditches Bothersome Politicians, Go to a Technocrat to Spend EU Cash
In hard times, Italy decides it can't afford elections.
Biden Must Get WHO to Come Clean on Wuhan Virus Lab Research
Don't eliminate possibility that coronavirus escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
European Union Vaccine Failures Laid Bare
The EU Commission kept a few too many secrets.
Putin Rival Navalny Survived Assassination Attempt; Now on Way to Russian Penal Colony
Vladimir Putin tried to kill Alexei Navalny. Now, he's sending him to jail
Putin under Pressure Staying Put?
Russia’s president Vladimir Putin is showing no signs of loosening his iron rule in the wake of country-wide protests against the effort to kill opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Navalny’s subsequent [...]
Fear Stalks the Kremlin: Courageous Alexei Navalny Challenges Putin (updated 01/23/2021)
The most influential dissident in Russia seems to scare Vladimir Putin. It’s not surprising. Russian Protestors Making Russia Great Again? Today may be a day that in fact frightens Putin most directly. [...]
Merkel Presents Biden with Germany First Conundrum
Much has been said about Donald Trump leaving his successor Joe Biden with last minute foreign policy decisions to preempt new Biden’s own priorities. Who would have guessed that German Chancellor Angela [...]
Chinese and Russian Opera and the Curious Ex-Reporter
Two operas, one in Hong Kong, the other in Moscow, seemed to speak on current themes. I had the good luck this year of seeing two operas I hadn’t seen before (hit exit button if you don’t like opera). [...]
To Understand China, and US Fears, See Pre-WWII Japan
Are the US and China heading for a Pearl Harbor moment? Back to the Future? Pearl Harbor, 1941 Before visiting Shanghai last summer, I decided to prepare myself through some old novels about pre-Communist [...]
I am a former correspondent who, for more than 30 years, did time in China, Southeast Asia, Central America, Mexico, the Middle East, Europe and Africa and covered wars that went from episodic to non-stop. My book, "Forsaken," about Christian persecution in the Middle East came out January, 2016. NextWarNotes is a news and analysis blog designed to fill gaps, provide background and think about what’s next. The name of the site comes from a 1935 article by Ernest Hemingway in Esquire Magazine called “Notes on the Next War,” in which he predicted the coming conflagration in Europe, told why it would happen and warned Americans to stay out.