BY MALIKA ORAZGALIYEVA in EURASIA & WORLD ASTANA – The majority of 30 Syrian opposition figures who met in Astana on May 25-27 issued a joint statement on May 28, in which they appealed for a continued search for political solutions to the lasting conflict in their country. …

By Zachary Fillingham The Obama administration’s strategy of arming and training the Iraqi armed forces to stabilize the country is a failure, and an expensive one at that having cost US taxpayers around $26 billion in aid. If some were willing to reserve judgement after the fall of …

By Benjamin Schreer* The U.S. military continues to explore long-range conventional prompt strike capabilities to strike “time-sensitive” targets across the globe on very short notice. Known as Conventional Prompt Global Strike (CPGS), the programme has not yet translated into operational weapon systems because of technological and political challenges. …

One of the United States government’s top counterterrorism officials says Congress must help investigators crack the encrypted communications of terrorists as groups like the so-called Islamic State ramp-up their online recruitment efforts. On Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Michael Steinbach, the assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s …

The “temptation of nationalism” may trigger EU member states to seek independence from Brussels and eventually “repatriate power” to their capitals, dealing a lethal blow to the European Union’s system, Stratfor notes.  According a forecast by Stratfor, a private US intelligence company, a loss of economic prosperity within the EU accompanied …

Experts claim that the government of Qatar has portrayed the al-Nusra Front as a moderate fighting force to gain support from Sunni allies in an effort to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad.  WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The government of Qatar has portrayed the al-Nusra Front as a moderate fighting force to gain support …

An ethnologist at Viadrina University in Frankfurt, Werner Schiffauer says that the victims of ISIL jihadist group propaganda are often people alienated from the society.  MOSCOW (Sputnik), Anna Liatsou — The victims of ISIL jihadist group propaganda are often people alienated from the society, an ethnologist at Viadrina University in Frankfurt (Oder), Werner …

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair reportedly has been appointed chairman of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation.  MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been appointed chairman of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation, about a week after he announced his resignation as Middle East Quartet representative, …

France is desperately searching for what Reuters called “a face-saving compromise” with Moscow over the stalled deal for the delivery of two Mistral-class helicopter carriers built by the Western European nation for the Russian Navy. France has three options: deliver the warships, sell them to a third party and …