In order to understand the hype surrounding the phenomena of Islamic radicalism and terrorism, we need to understand the prevailing global economic order and its prognosis. What the pragmatic economists forecasted about the free market capitalism has turned out to be true; whether we like it or not. …
Read More »The Americans Warned Al-Abadi of an Assassination Plot
Sources close to Iraqi Prime Minister Haider said that the premier had made significant changes with regard to his security guards, entrusting this task to a high profile Kurdish officer. This was the first ever amendment that a prime minister takes in Iraq in the aftermath of occupation. …
Read More »The Syrian Kurds’ Big Blunder
Syria’s Kurds appear to be in the process of making a mistake of monumental proportions. Central government offices in the north-eastern provincial capital of al-Hasaka are reported to have been evacuated after being overrun by Kurdish forces – specifically, units of the Asayish militia affiliated to the People’s …
Read More »Reconstruction of war-torn Yemen ‘could cost $15 billion’
The reconstruction of war-torn Yemen could cost $15 billion, a cabinet minister said on Tuesday, citing a multilateral institution. “The World Bank estimates… $15 billion,” Abdulraqeb Saif Fateh, Yemen’s minister of local administration, told AFP on the sidelines of a workshop on Yemen’s post-war recovery. He gave no …
Read More »Washington Views Putin-Erdoğan Talks with Caution, not Panic
At the White House, the Pentagon, and CIA headquarters, the August 9 meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been viewed as a limited success, at best, and no cause for serious worry. This may prove to be the latest in a …
Read More »Can Turkey and Russia Together Make a Difference in Syria?
This is the season of “resetting” if seen from the angle of Syria’s stormy weather. The US seems to be stepping back from its unrealistic rush to enact an elusive ceasefire even at the expense of giving the Russians more space to lead, the Russians understand that if …
Read More »Is Erdogan a Leninist?
In Erdogan’s early days, he was an open Islamist radical, working for an Islamist party that got itself overthrown and banned for being too straightforward. Later, he reconstituted the Islamist party as the AKP, with its Islamism toned down just enough to fly under the radar screen of …
Read More »Can Iran and Saudi Arabia Co-Exist?
“We should facilitate people engaging with each other. We should not dictate to them what they should do. We should facilitate the people of Syria deciding about their own future, rather than setting the parameters on what they need to do. We should also agree that Iran …
Read More »U.S.-Iran: “Breakthrough” or Waning U.S. Power?
Gareth Porter A former Obama administration official has asserted that the Iranian nuclear deal marks a radical break with past U.S. policy, contradicting the official White House stance that the agreement is not leading to a new U.S.-Iran relationship. John Limbert, a Farsi-speaking veteran diplomat who was among …
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