Geopolitics

Noah Smith The Independent wrote the recent name change of Jabhat Al-Nusra will not keep them from being bombed. But, it just might because it removes Jabhat Al-Nusra from an official list of terrorist organizations. They’ve distanced themselves from Al-Qaeda, which requires more investigation and validation. It will mean …

The head of U.S. Central Command said Thursday that a recent trove of captured intelligence out of Syria is providing a “deeper” insight into the Islamic State’s war machine. “I think it is extraordinarily important. … It is beginning to provide us deeper understanding of certainly their tactics …

Just three or four years ago, no one was talking seriously about a role for Russia in the Middle East. It is indeed amazing how Vladimir Putin, with minimum investment, has achieved all this in such a short time. He is now publicly invited by Saudi Foreign Minister …

Shelley Kasly Russia’s decision to greatly reduce its military presence in Syria, coming as it did with little warning, has left the world struggling for explanations. Russia is to maintain a military presence at its naval base in Tartous and at the Khmeymim airbase. In fact Russia is …

It is not a reform or a renewal of our mind that we need. It is in fact a migration – a hijra – from an old model to a new one In 1994 Nelson Mandela declared a new era in South Africa. The rainbow nation was born, …

By Katherine Zimmerman, Jennifer Cafarella, Harleen Gambhir Executive Summary The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) at the American Enterprise Institute conducted an intensive multi-week planning exercise to frame, design, and evaluate potential courses of action that the United States could …

Ambitions of Turkey’s President Erdoğan are damaging the nation’s standing with regional and international partners. By Mohammed Ayoob* The Turkish political system, touted only a few years ago as a model for other Muslim countries in the Middle East to emulate, lies in tatters. The parliament’s May 20 …

by James M. Dorsey We have been given the impossible task of telling you in the words of Hollywood director and actor Woody Allen everything about the Middle East that you want to know and never dared to ask and all of that in 15 minutes. So what …

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ISIL/ISIS is a covert western army designed to carve out a Sunni mini-state in a chaotic Middle East, which is to be fractured along artificial sectarian and ethnic lines. Iraq has been plunged into a further state of chaos over …