Rasa - During a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Thursday to meet with Afghan leaders and US troops, Vice President Mike Pence desperately talked up “progress” in the 16+ year Afghan War. Guess what? The world didn’t buy it.

Rasa - Once again, the United States, the hegemon, put itself into the unique position of having to ensure its own illicit interests while, unfortunately, threatening others to improve both its influence on the world and the world it influences - even the United Nations General Assembly!

Rasa - This just in: Some 350 Nobel peace prize laureates, celebrities, politicians and academics have slammed Western leaders and governments for “stoking the flames of war” in Yemen.

Rasa - US President Donald Trump has just delivered his much anticipated National Security Strategy, vowing to take on US nemeses Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.

Rasa - From the earliest years of the Zionist project, the leaders of the movement - which then morphed into the State of Israel - understood that regional coalitions were crucial to its success. But Israel is a settler colonial project and therefor it was and still is very much hated by people in the region.

Rasa - The ever-mounting civilian toll of the Saudi war on Yemen refuses to go away: At least 10 women were killed on Saturday night in the Ma’arib province, when US-backed Saudi warplanes attacked the vehicle they were traveling in.

Rasa - The most dangerous thing about the North Korean missile launch is the reaction of the unprincipled, under-informed, white identity extremist sitting in the Oval Office. If there’s a nuclear war coming out of this manufactured “crisis,” the buck will have stopped with him. Not that President Trump doesn’t have other fools egging him on to risk global chaos and destruction in response to an imaginary, inflated threat from an impoverished nation of 25 million people. Sadly, this is not a surprising development after more than sixty years of aggressive US behavior toward North Korea.

Rasa - US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley should realize that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence; that the most confused she will ever get is when she tries to convince her heart and spirit of something her mind knows is a lie.

Rasa - The world stood still when the White House last week urged Saudi Arabia to ease the ongoing (US-backed) blockade on Yemen. The world also wondered what would be next for Washington if Riyadh refused to follow orders. Sweat not. We now know what’s next.

Rasa - International Law lives or dies on the quality of universal conversation. Were it left to the United Nations to decide whether there should be war or peace in Yemen, without a doubt the world body would not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.