Saudi Arabian foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir has warned that if the Syrian political process fails, President Bashar Assad will have to be removed “by force.” “We will push as much as we can to ensure that the political process works. But if it doesn’t work, it will be because of the obstinacy …

he new military developments of Russia and China have tilted the balance in global military capabilities, says the newly released report by the UK-based International Institute for Strategic Studies which examines global military capabilities and defense economics. “Russia’s employment of advanced cruise missiles over Syria and China’s display of capabilities, like the longer range DF-26 missiles, …

Christians in the Middle East hope that Friday’s meeting between Russia’s Orthodox Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis in Cuba will signal the beginning of the long overdue process of Christian reunification. During their historic meeting at Havana international airport the two Christian hierarchs signed a joint declaration, which many …

Abdel Bari Atwan As Saudi Arabia announces that it is prepared to deploy ground troops in Syria, we examine Riyadh’s motives and intentions. Is their target really the Islamic State as claimed or does it hope to topple Assad? Or both? What are its chances of success and will …

Paul Pillar Large-scale armed insurrection tends to move through identifiable phases that correspond roughly to what Mao Zedong described many years ago. In Mao’s formulation, the first of three phases emphasizes organization, propaganda, and the establishment of cadres and a presence in the areas in which the revolutionary …

Ariel Noyola Rodriguez The year 2016 has hardly begun and the losses in different stock markets around the world care colossal: nearly 8 trillion US dollars during the first three weeks of January according to the calculations of the Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The Government of the …

Mike Whitney Here’s what you need to know about the Syria peace talks: Four of the most powerful militias currently operating in Syria have been excluded from the negotiations. The Islamic State (ISIS), Jabhat al Nusra, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) have …

The United States should welcome Russia as a full partner in the struggle to destroy the Islamic State, Republican presidential candidate and billionaire businessman Donald Trump told a rally in Milford, New Hampshire. Trump noted that the United States should embrace Russia’s readiness to use its own air force …