Military & Security

Retired Army Gen. Mike Flynn, a top intelligence official in the post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, says in a forthcoming interview on Al Jazeera English that the drone war is creating more terrorists than it is killing. He also asserts that the U.S. invasion of Iraq helped create the …

According to paragraph 67 of the new nuclear deal with Iran, IAEA inspectors in charge of monitoring the agreement may only be “from nations that have diplomatic relations with Iran.” This means that no inspectors will be American (unless the U.S. unexpectedly reestablishes the diplomatic ties with Iran that it severed …

There is an ongoing debate in the US administration to determine if Iraq and Syria are indeed heading to total, unavoidable, and possibly permanent, fragmentation. Some officials cling to the prospects of preserving Iraqi unity while they grade the Syrian situation as yet “undecided”. However, realities on the …

It is not clear yet how prudent were the public statements coming from Amman to indicate that Jordan is determined to confront ISIL beyond its borders. King Abdullah pointed to his country’s willingness to support Arab Sunni tribes in east Syria and west Iraq to fight ISIL. “The …

The main problem with a recently published “proposed strategy” for Syria, recommending the establishment of safe zones, is that it seems to give Syrian opposition areas the name of “safe zone” without changing the actual status quo. The proposed strategy circles back to the same questions of sending …

Whatever it is, the show is on, and we have still some time before we hear “That is all, folks”. According to eyewitnesses in Gaziantep, the small but key town on Turkish-Syria borders, Erdogan already sent 35 tanks to the border region. What is discussed in Ankara is …

Events on the ground in Iraq, Syria and Yemen are gradually pushing Saudi-Iranian relations towards further escalation. Iran’s Brigadier General Qolamreza Jalali, Commander of Iran’s Passive Defense Organization (one of the domestic security agencies) said June 27 that Saudi threats to the Islamic Republic are increasing and finding …

The voice of the Emir of Kuwait in his comments after bombing a Shia mosque June 26 should echo all over the Middle East. “We do not have Sunnis and Shias. We have only Kuwaitis”, the Emir said in a warning to all who incite religious hatred in …

Is the American century over? Despite a growing economy, world-class university system, innovative society, and the best military in the world it seems the US may lose its global leadership. Air Force Col. Robert S. Spalding and his co-author Dr. Adam B. Lowther, a Research Professor at the Air …