by John J. Metzler Weirs Times Contributing Writer UNITED NATIONS–The rhetoric reached the heights of the Himalayas, the pomp and pageantry evoked that of an operetta, but the political optics delivered a clearly focused political…

by John J. Metzler Weirs Times Contributing Writer UNITED NATIONS – It’s been forty years since the wars in Indochina ended and the curtain dropped ushering in a new period of darkness for the people…

by John J. Metzler Weirs Times Contributing Writer UNITED NATIONS -There’s an urgent food crisis in communist North Korea, where shortages affect up to 70 percent of the population. According to an alarming new UN…

by John J. Metzler Weirs Times Contributing Writer UNITED NATIONS – Throughout the chaos, calamity and conflict which has befallen the Middle East, there are few groups which have come under such intense attack as…

by John J. Metzler Weirs Times Contributing Writer UNITED NATIONS– The Obama Administration and the tireless Secretary of State John Kerry endlessly strive to reach a nuclear “deal” with Iran.

by John J. Metzler Weirs Times Contributing Writer UNITED NATIONS – Afghanistan’s long and tortuous road to peace and reconciliation still seems a near mirage as an entrenched terrorist insurgency seems to rebuff political and…

IS Destruction Sweeps Ancient Sites by John J. Metzler Weirs Times Contributing Writer UNITED NATIONS–The barbarians are inside the gates of Nimrud, the ancient Assyrian city in northern Iraq now being plundered, pillaged, and bulldozed…

by John J. Metzler Weirs Times Contributing Writer UNITED NATIONS–Amid a near unquenchable thirst for natural resources, a desire to develop new trading partners, and an opportunity to press for political influence in a vast…

by John J. Metzler, Weirs Times Contributing Writer UNITED NATIONS – The spate of brutal and systematic attacks on Christian communities in Syria, Iraq and Egypt by the Islamic State has surged. Yet despite this targeted…

by John J. Metzler, Weirs Times Contributing Writer UNITED NATIONS–The vast swath of nine countries bordering the southern reaches of the Sahara desert are marked by poverty, drought and chronic instability. Yet these oft-forgotten lands…

by John J. Metzler Weirs Times Contributing Writer UNITED NATIONS – In recent years there’s been a dearth of media coverage of Darfur’s humanitarian crisis. What had once been a focus for both diplomatic and…

by John J. Metzler, syndicated columnist UNITED NATIONS – There’s been a disturbing decline in global freedoms over the past year with a clear erosion of political rights for the ninth consecutive year. These are…

by John Metzler Weirs Times Columnist UNITED NATIONS – While America seems transfixed on a spate of six separate Mid- East crises, there’s been far less attention paid on the brewing storm in Europe. Thus…