Another jobs report, another cheap shot at the former guy. As I always say, this sort of comparison is silly because so many things beyond the president’s control affect job growth and the economy. But, you know that if the situation were reversed, we would be hearing this comparison endlessly. …

Being a radical Leftist of the communist kind has curiously inoculated me from the “brocialist” economism and intimately related class reductionism that disfigures some key parts of the American left, such as it is. It’s not just that there’s no room for downplaying the problems of racism and sexism in …

Introduction As the withdrawal of U.S. and coalition troops from Afghanistan is already in its final stages as per the February 29, 2020 agreement[1] between the United States and the Afghan Taliban, signed in the Qatari capital of Doha, the Islamic State (ISIS) has begun to carry out increasingly diverse …

Ankara believes it has reaped strategic benefits from military involvement in Syria, Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh. Yet it has paid a price as well, discomfiting both allies and adversaries. Now, Turkey hopes to rebuild ties so as to consolidate its new gains. Since 2016, when President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan survived a …

Iran has a new president, consolidating the hardliners’ control over the centres of power. What will he do about the country’s numerous crises? One answer is clear: the 2015 nuclear deal’s fate remains the most pressing issue for Tehran and its foreign interlocutors. What’s new? Ebrahim Raisi has assumed Iran’s presidency …

The U.S. will deploy additional troops to Kabul airport in support of embassy staff drawdown as the security situation in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate. On Friday, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Commander Hossein Salami said that all Iran’s border lines are secure, including the eastern borders with Afghanistan. His …

On August 11, 2021, Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary-General of Lebanese Hizbullah, warned of psychological warfare against resistance factions in Lebanon and elsewhere, stressing that there should be an effort to expose it.[1] His statement was part of a speech he delivered in the southern suburbs of Beirut on the third night …

In a BBC Arabic TV (U.K.) report, which was aired on August 19, 2021, leaders of pro-Iran militias talk about their activity on both sides of the Syria-Iraq border. Ahmad Al-Maksusi, Secretary-General of the Sayiid Al-Shuhada Brigades militia, said that the Iraqi militias were the ones who targeted American forces …

Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom said on August 6 it had slowed gas shipments abroad after fire struck a processing plant in western Siberia. No one was hurt in the fire, which happened at a facility near Novy Urengoy. Russian media said transports of natural gas via Belarus and Poland …

This Week’s Highlights Russia is now supplying more oil to the U.S. than any other foreign producer aside from Canada, Bloomberg reported, noting that U.S. imports of crude and refined petroleum products from its former Cold War adversary surged 23% in May. U.S. imports of Russian goods increased by one …