Middle East

The politics of ‘safe-zone’, a stretch of Syrian territory along Turkey-Syria border jointly managed by Turkey and the U.S., has certainly given a new twist to the Syrian end-game. Most certainly, the US’ encouragement of this ‘safe-zone’ is part of its plan to win back its…

After following in the wake of Washington’s policies both silently and obediently for decades, it would seem that the EU decided to man up and make a couple of steps of its own, even if just for a change. However, one would be rather surprised to know that among these steps was…

The fourth Arab League Summit, held in Beirut, without a doubt, did not leave a positive impression, and instead generated a number of questions on resolving pressing issues facing the entire Arab world. In the past, summits of the League of Arab States were usually attended…

For the good part of almost 7 years of war, Syria has seen tremendous upheavals both internally and externally. Even now when the terrorist groups have almost been defeated and the foreign-supported so-called ‘rebel’ groups are also joining the peace-process, the geo-politics around…

As many know, China has instituted a system of official “social credit” monitoring which is supposed to come online by 2020. Every man, woman and child in China would have a magic number, based on key behaviors, personal finances, health and education levels, social and political…

Until few weeks ago, there was an undeclared war that Israel had waged on Iran in Syria to force Iranian presence out the country. While the war was officially ‘undeclared’, various pronouncements by the top-rank Israeli officials confirmed that there was a war going-on in Syria. However, a number of statements made by Israeli officials would indicate that the…

I have not been convinced about the claims coming from Turkey and from the Washington Post and others regarding the allegations of a gruesome murder of intelligence asset, Jamal Khashoggi, in October, 2018. There are too many anomalies as it was portrayed by various statements from Turkey President Erdogan, and echoed by a chorus of the Western mainstream…

The newly launched ‘NATO Mission in Iraq’ has a clear geo-political underpinning to it which aims to disturb the delicate edifice of peace that Russia, Turkey and Iran have been building for last two years or so. Although the new mission has been announced at a time when the US…

Everything is in disarray in Donald Trump’s White House. All of its residents are against him and his policies, and everyone is poised to “attack” their spiritual leader. As soon as Donald Trump says something or takes a political decision, his closest “household members”, the National…

In the aftermath of the disastrous Libyan campaign of 2011, the United Kingdom would demonstrate a certain degree of restraint in its foreign policy endeavors, getting particularly picky every time a politician would go as far as to even mention military interventions…

An “independent national institute founded by Congress and dedicated to the proposition that a world without violent conflict is possible,” would be the last place you would expect to find calls for continued war. Yet the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is just the place…

In an apparent about-turn, the Trump administration is re-thinking its decision to rapidly withdraw from Syria in order to, what its officials have said, ensure that the ISIS is completely destroyed and that the Turks don’t attack Syrian Kurds. While it is completely erroneous to see…