TOPICS

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 …

Nabih Bulos , W.J. Hennigan and Brian Bennett Syrian militias armed by different parts of the U.S. war machine have begun to fight each other on the plains between the besieged city of Aleppo and the Turkish border, highlighting how little control U.S. intelligence officers and military planners …

As President Obama prepares to travel to Saudi Arabia for a regional summit, several of the rulers he will meet are contending with dramatic changes at home. Plunging oil prices and soaring deficits are compelling Gulf countries to upend their decades-old social contract. In a region where government …

Brian Michael Jenkins Five years ago, U.S. special operations forces killed Osama bin Laden in a raid on his hiding place in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Although al Qaeda had been dispersed from its bases in Afghanistan and its support networks had been largely dismantled, nearly 10 years after the …

By Stephanie Pezard and Abbie Tingstad As the United States celebrated the first anniversary of its Arctic Council chairmanship on April 24, it had an opportunity to look back on several achievements, including the creation of the Arctic Coast Guard Forum last October. Through this organization, Arctic nations …

Ian Bond Obama is not an instinctive pro-European. He opposes Brexit because it risks creating more problems for America in Europe. His successor too will want Europe to be a partner, not a passenger, for the US. No-one believes that US President Barack Obama is coming to London …

Prof. Tim Anderson Heavy propaganda accompanies the strategic battle in Aleppo between the Syrian Army and its allies (Russia, Iran, Hezbollah and other militia) and the Saudi-Turkey-NATO backed terrorist groups (Jabhat al Nusra, Jaysh al Islam, Ahrar as Sham and ISIS). Fighting escalated in late April when the …

Stephen Blank The Balkans are burning. Europe’s refugee crisis has now entwined with the general crisis of governance afflicting the Balkans, and reached its apogee in Macedonia. Between April 13 and 14, Macedonian rioters burned the presidential office and destroyed the building housing the country’s Ministry of Justice …