Pepe Escobar: Why BRI is back with a bang in 2023

Pepe Escobar: Why BRI is back with a bang in 2023

Photo: The Cradle Pepe Escobar January 23, 2023 As Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative enters its 10th year, a strong Sino-Russian geostrategic partnership has revitalized the BRI across the Global South. The year 2022 ended with a Zoom call to end all Zoom calls: Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping discussing all aspects of the […]

Pepe Escobar: 9/9 and 9/11, 20 years later

Pepe Escobar: 9/9 and 9/11, 20 years later

Massoud leaving Bazarak in the Panjshir after our interview in August 2001, roughly three weeks before his assassination. Photo: Pepe Escobar We may never know the full contours of the whole riddle inside an enigma when it comes to 9/11 and related issues Pepe Escobar September 13, 2021 It’s impossible not to start with the […]

Afghanistan and the CIA heroin ratline

Afghanistan and the CIA heroin ratline

Pepe Escobar August 25, 2021 The Persian Gulf harbors an array of extremely compromising secrets. Near the top is the Afghan heroin ratline – with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) positioned as the golden node of a transnational, trillion dollar heroin money laundering operation. Originally posted on LewRockwell homepage on January 18, 2021 In this […]

Pepe Escobar – “Welcome to Pipelineistan!”

Pepe Escobar – “Welcome to Pipelineistan!”

Pepe Escobar August 24, 2021 At one point last week, the price of a barrel of crude oil — which had risen as high as $147 last July and, with the global economic meltdown, hit a low of $32 in 2009 — rebounded above $51. Prices at the local gas pump are expected to rise as well in the […]

Why Xi won’t repeat Ming Dynasty mistakes

Why Xi won’t repeat Ming Dynasty mistakes

China has learned from its own rich history and is applying those lessons to re-emerge as a major 21st century power May 20, 2020 Pepe Escobar With hybrid warfare 2.0 against China reaching fever pitch, the New Silk Roads, or Belt and Road Initiative, will continue to be demonized 24/7 as the proverbial evil communist […]

Battle of the Ages to stop Eurasian integration

Battle of the Ages to stop Eurasian integration

Photo: Pepe Escobar The coming decade could see the US take on Russia, China and Iran over the New Silk Road connection May 18, 2020 Pepe Escobar The Raging Twenties started with a bang with the targeted assassination of Iran’s General Qasem Soleimani. Yet a bigger bang awaits us throughout the decade: the myriad declinations […]

Why the New Silk Roads are a ‘threat’ to the US bloc

Why the New Silk Roads are a ‘threat’ to the US bloc

Photo: Facebook/AsiaTimes The Middle East is the key to wide-ranging, economic, interlinked integration, and peace February 16, 2020 By Pepe Escobar Under the cascading roar of the 24/7 news cycle cum Twitter eruptions, it’s easy for most of the West, especially the US, to forget the basics about the interaction of Eurasia with its western […]

How Yemen’s Houthis are bringing down a Goliath

How Yemen’s Houthis are bringing down a Goliath

By Pepe Escobar October 1, 2019 “It is clear to us that Iran bears responsibility for this attack. There is no other plausible explanation. We support ongoing investigations to establish further details.” Originally posted on in the Asia Times on September 25, 2019 here The statement above was not written by Franz Kafka. In fact, it was […]

The EU bows to ‘systemic rival’ China

The EU bows to ‘systemic rival’ China

Slowly but surely, the EU is shifting its priorities to the East By Pepe Escobar April 18, 2019 Let’s start with the essential background for the meeting in Paris on Tuesday between Chinese President Xi Jinping and three EU heavyweights – French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President of the European Commission […]

How the New Silk Roads are merging into Greater Eurasia

How the New Silk Roads are merging into Greater Eurasia

By Pepe Escobar April 16, 2019 Russia is keen to push economic integration with parts of Asia and this fits in with China’s Belt and Road Initiative The concept of Greater Eurasia has been discussed at the highest levels of Russian academia and policy-making for some time. This week the policy was presented at the […]