Al-Baghdadi’s last stand on November 17, 2017After months of speculation as to whether he is dead or alive — the most wanted man in the world has reportedly been spotted in Syria. It seems that ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi fled the Iraqi border town of Rawafor Boukamal (also known as Abu Kamal). The most immediate question that springs to mind […]
Imran Khan’s ‘naya Pakistan revolution’ on November 8, 2017Imran Khan’s fans and supporters remain in denial about his abilities and intentions despite mounting evidence that he is not the savior they imagine him to be. It’s no wonder that playboys like John F. Kennedy and Imran Khan turn out to be popular and revered leaders because they understand how that masses’ psychology works. […]
Israel as a Bulwark against Communism on November 7, 2017Is this not one of international politics most significant ‘coincidences’ that the Balfour declaration for the creation of Israel was adopted in the same fateful year, November 1917, in which the February and October 1917 communist revolutions were taking place in Russia? No informed person can deny the importance of energy for industrial economies, but […]
Fingerprints of Islamic State in the New York attack on November 3, 2017Eight people have been killed and more than a dozen injured after a truck mowed down people on a bike path in Lower Manhattan. FBI is treating the incident as an act of terrorism and the driver of the vehicle was shot by the NYPD and taken into custody alive. The suspect has been identified […]
Gender identity as a social construct on November 2, 2017The distinction between male and female genders is based less on their physiological traits and more on their respective mindsets. These mindsets, in turn, are a product of social expectations of behaviour in a cultural milieu. Men and boys are expected to behave in a supposedly manly fashion and women are expected to behave in […]
Washington’s stakes in the Syrian conflict on October 30, 2017Washington’s interest in the Syrian civil war is partly about ensuring Israel’s regional security and partly about protecting the interests of America’s regional Sunni allies: Turkey, Jordan and the Gulf Arab States. Saudi Arabia, which has been vying for power as the leader of the Sunni bloc against Shi’a-dominated Iran in the regional geopolitical arena, […]
Erdogan and NATO on October 27, 2017Recently, the Pravda newspaper in Russia has reported that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been suffering from serious sleep deprivation and that he was yawning and dozed off during a press conference with the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko while on a state visit to Kiev, and the video of the incident has been going […]
The three-way ethno-sectarian conflict in Syria and Iraq on October 25, 2017In Syria and Iraq, there is actually a three-way ethnic and sectarian conflict between Sunni Arab militants, Shi’a Arab governments and the Kurds. Although after the declaration of war against a faction of Sunni Arab militants, the Islamic State, the US has also lent its support to the Shi’a-led government in Iraq, but the Shi’a […]
Kurds’ loss of Kirkuk and triumph in Raqqa on October 20, 2017The Iraqi government troops on Tuesday retook the oil-rich northern Iraqi province of Kirkuk from the Kurds who had controlled the province since June 2014 when the Islamic State (IS) overran Mosul. What exactly transpired is still unclear but the two Iraqi factions of the Kurds, the Erbil-based KDP Kurds and the Suleimaniyah-based PUK Kurds, […]
Paradigm shift in Syrian war after Al-Jolanis critical injuries on October 9, 2017During the seven-year-long Syrian civil war, al-Jolani has emerged as the second most influential militant leader after the IS Chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In fact, at the beginning of the Syrian conflict, IS and al-Nusra were a single organisation that chose the banner of ‘Jabhat al-Nusra The Russian Defense Ministry has claimed that one of […]