Category: Geo-Politics

Journalist

Emmanuel Macron frustrated

Macron

antonfoek.com Amsterdam, June 21st 2022– France is heading into a period of exceptional political instability, with the real threat of legislative paralysis, after President Emmanuel Macron lost his overall parliamentary majority in Sunday’s elections.  It was a stunning setback for a president re-elected to office just two months ago. Macron’s Ensemble! alliance won only 245…
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Three Blind Kings

Three Blind Kings

A Q&A with geostrategist and Pentagon guru Edward Luttwak By David Samuels Being an enfant terrible at the age of 79 is not a task that can be undertaken lightly. Most men are simple conformists from childhood on. For those with more adventuresome temperaments, a flurry of rebellion in their teens or 20s is usually…
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Hans Stegemann Economics

Faith, Belief and the Good Life

Economics Hans Stegeman Amsterdam, February 12, 2022– Progressive thinking is pretty much the mainstream – the most important – belief of our time. The main symbol of this in the economy is economic progress, translated flat into economic growth.  Always more and more and better. And preferably also more expensive. Economic laws are largely based…
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Silk Road

How does China’s Silk Road Work?

The Silk Road was the ultimate route for messengers, merchants, and explorers alike. The roads were used in a few manners, with the main being for commercial trade. China and The Roman Empire It’s because of this network that Han China and the Roman Empire were aware of each other’s existence. Still, the distance and…
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Mongolian Horsemen Fiddle

Soul of the Mongolian Horseman

In the steppes of Mongolia, a horse-breeding family is hosting four city children for several months. They have come to learn Morin Khuur, an ancestral violin, and the wild nature of the plains are the source of inspiration. Omba, an elderly and intelligent musician, teaches them this magical instrument, which is said to have healing…
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Paramaribo Suriname

Reflections about our Common Future

An Anton Foek Special We listen to scientists, media- and theatre producers, authors, and philosophers about important contemporary personal and social questions. The Italian-American economist Mariana Mazzucato thinks and reflects over the question how to adjust our capitalist system.  Anton Foek Amsterdam, December 12, 2021–We ( sic ) have really big problems: lack of sense…
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USA vs Europe

U.S. Business as Usual

At What Costs Part II by Yanis Varoufakis edited: Anton Foek Amsterdam, September 26th 2021– Consider the ambition and desire to create a euro-dominated payments system that allows companies and states to trade independently of the US-dominated financial system. For such a system to work, it must be liquid, which means it must be able to…
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Aukus Agreement submarine

Humiliation To The Bone

Business as Usual At What Price Part I of II by Yanis Varoufakis edited by Anton Foek Amsterdam, September 26th 2021– Former U.S. president, Donald Trump, humiliated the European Union by annulling the Iran nuclear deal.  And now the current president, Joe Biden, has done so too, by announcing the new AUKUS agreement with Australia…
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Archi Mali timbuktu People climbing

The Timbuktu Storyteller

Centre of the world Part II by Anthony Ham Amsterdam, September 12th 2021—Ag Mohamed Ali initiated travellers into Timbuktu’s secrets. He took them to the private family libraries that still held manuscripts from Timbuktu’s golden age – biographies of the Prophet Muhammad on pages of gold leaf and scientific treatises from the great Islamic scholars of…
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Timbuktu Storytelling

Storytelling in and from Timbuktu

Part I by: Anthony Ham Amsterdam, September 12th 2021– As the sun neared the horizon, before the day’s final call to prayer, Azima Ag Mohamed Ali began his nightly walk through the sandy streets of Timbuktu in Mali. Along the way, first one, then a second friend fell into step alongside him. The greetings continued…
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