Imagine you had a time machine that could take you back to compare what people thought would happen in 2015 with what actually did occur. Some of the events of the last year, like the Syrian rebel training programs falling apart, were utterly predictable. Others were deeply surprising; the …

Andrew Bowen On Friday, John Kerry convened a high-level session of UN Security Council member states’ foreign ministers to build on the diplomatic momentum that came from the October and November Syria talks in Vienna. Late afternoon Friday, Kerry, Russia’s Sergei Lavrov, France’s Laurent Fabius and the UK’s …

Michael J. Brenner Americans are in the grip of a particular hysteria – once again. First it arrived in the panic provoked by the atrocity of 9/11. The symptoms of that Post-Traumatic Shock are still with us. Now it returns in the panic in the aftermath of San …

As President Barack Obama struggles to reassure Americans that his administration has a handle on terrorism, specialists in the burgeoning field of countering violent extremism (CVE) say the US government should devote more resources to domestic programs that can prevent susceptible youth from succumbing to the approaches of terrorist …

In the wake of the Islamic State’s (IS) attacks in the Sinai Peninsula, Beirut and Paris, there is an urgent need to mobilize resources to deal with the threat, especially resources in the Arab world. Instead, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies are devoting their resources and efforts …

Some key members of the 34-nation anti-IS coalition announced by Saudi Arabia have a fundamental question: just what is it? Indonesia apparently did not know it was going to be a military alliance, which it does not want to join. A senior Pakistani lawmaker, meanwhile, only learned the …

Hezbollah party leader Samir Kuntar was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Damascus early Sunday, the Lebanese group and Syrian government sources said. Israel welcomed his death, but stopped short of confirming responsibility for the strike that killed him. Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim group, said Kuntar was “martyred” …

Abdel Bari Atwan Saudi Defence Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman Bin Abdel Aziz surprised everybody with a sudden announcement that a new 34-nation military alliance of Moslem countries had been established and that its HQ is to be in Riyadh. Pakistan was astonished to find it was named as …