Eurasia

It all started in late April with an open letter written by a group of 20 retired French generals and published in a right-wing weekly news magazine, Valeurs Actuelles, known for its inflammatory provocations. Describing France as teetering on the edge of civil war, the letter called on France’s civilian …

The Iran-Iraq border has recently witnessed a fresh uptick in cross-border attacks by Kurdish armed groups fighting for autonomy. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said one of its members was “martyred” during intense clashes with Kurdish fighters near the border with Iraq early on May 4. The IRGC claimed …

The meeting takes place during the first official visit to Damascus by Saudi Arabia since 2012. Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief met with his Syrian counterpart in Damascus on Monday in a sign of possible rapprochement between the two governments a decade after relations were severed. London-based Rai al-Youm news outlet …

The Tehrik Labaik Pakistan (TLP), in a very short time, has emerged as one of the strongest neo-fundamentalist radical organisations. The TLP was the fifth largest party in the national elections held in July 2018. Several factors contributed to its rise. Most notable of them was the leadership provided by …

The United States appears upbeat about the resumption of stalled peace talks between warring parties in Afghanistan, even as fighting escalates amid the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from the country. A senior U.S. official said Tuesday during a background briefing in Kabul that Washington’s diplomatic efforts are continuing …

Ethical hackers now have many more targets within the Defense Department, DOD officials announced. The department is expanding its Vulnerability Disclosure Program to include all publicly accessible DOD information systems. The program grew out of the success of the “Hack the Pentagon” initiative that began in 2016. That initiative enabled …

The head of Reporters Without Borders says that French journalist Olivier Dubois was kidnapped April 8 while working in Mali’s northern city of Gao. A video was released Wednesday showing Dubois saying he was kidnapped on April 8 by the al-Qaida-linked group JNIM. In the video he calls on his …

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee responded to a report that Kerry provided Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif information on Israel’s operations in Syria, but Kerry has denied this ever happened. A group of House Republicans is calling for a review of US environmental envoy John Kerry’s security clearance …

The warning comes amid a wave of jihadist attacks — including the beheading of a schoolteacher — committed by young men, none of whom were previously known to French intelligence services. The letter also comes after widespread public indignation over a French justice system compromised by political correctness — as …

A car bomb attack in Pakistan, possibly aimed at a Chinese diplomat, has demonstrated just how important peace and stability in the region is to Beijing and its $65 billion Belt and Road Initiative. On April 21 Wednesday evening a deadly blast struck a Pakistan hotel stemming from a car …