Just after a band of mercenaries tried to oust the government in the Maldives back in 1988, I asked a Maldivian diplomat, using a familiar military catchphrase, about the strength of his country’s “standing army.” “Standing army?” the diplomat asked with mock surprise, and remarked perhaps half-jokingly, “We don’t even …

Israeli air strikes on Wednesday near Syria’s capital Damascus killed three fighters loyal to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and wounded four others, a war monitor said. Syrian state news agency SANA earlier reported two soldiers had been wounded in the strikes overnight Tuesday-Wednesday. It quoted a military source as saying …

For a long time, the White House’s hardliners have tried to pull Europe into their conflict with China. They need this conflict to preserve their dominant position and to keep Europe more reliant on them. They use Russia’s war with Ukraine, China’s technological advancement, and their exaggerated emphasis on democratic …

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has the perfect opportunity to exit the stage. But he will not. Abbas’ brief visit to the devastated Jenin refugee camp last week demonstrated the absurdity and danger of the PA and its 87-year-old leader. As he walked, Abbas struggled to keep his balance, in …

Millions of lives at stake. Families in dire need of international aid. Russia plays games with them all at the UN Security Council. Repeat every six months until further notice. Welcome to the Syria debate at the UN. This has been the case ever since 2014. The UNSC authorizes the …

On Friday, July 7, 2023, news broke in the financial market media that the “BRICS” (that is, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) will implement their plan to create a new international currency for trading and financial transactions, and that this new currency will be “gold backed.” Most recently, …

Prime Minister Modi has just wrapped up a two-day visit to France, where he was guest of honour at France’s Bastille Day Parade. This is a rare honour, given that it’s not every year that the parade has a foreign chief guest—the last time was in 2018 when Singapore PM …

The US army has been reinforcing its occupation in Syria over the past few months In a report released by Al-Monitor on 14 July, a high-ranking US military official was quoted as saying that Russian and Iranian forces in Syria have been coordinating with the specific aim of forcing Washington’s …

Whether or not US officials will consider the deal a violation of US sanctions on Iran, and therefore attempt to block it, is unclear Iraqi officials did not notify their US counterparts before reaching the recent deal to barter oil for natural gas with Iran, the Associated Press reported on …

The two-day visit is the first by an Iraqi premier to Syria since before the start of the war In the first visit by an Iraqi prime minister to Syria since before the start of the US-backed war in 2011, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani visited Damascus on 16 July for a …