During Russian forces’ spring assault on Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, air strikes played a key role in their attempts to encircle the city. One night in late March, Russian aircraft dropped 11 bombs on Ukraine’s Sumy region in a major attack. And last week, a Russian jet accidently released a …
Read More »The Islamic State in Dera’a: History and Present Situation
On November 30, 2022, the Islamic State’s spokesman Abu ‘Umar al-Muhajir made the somewhat surprising announcement that the group’s “caliph” and leader Abu al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi had been killed, while adding that the group’s Shura council had agreed on a successor going by the name of Abu al-Hussayn al-Hussayni al-Qurashi.1 …
Read More »Sudan war threatens regional and global alliances
Conflict in Abraham Accords nation demonstrates limits of US power, while Egypt and Saudi Arabia watch anxiously. The Sudanese civil war bears witness to the global disorder spreading in the Middle East, in the wake of the Ukraine conflict and the steady weakening of American leadership. Sudan had raised the …
Read More »Why China’s yuan is unlikely to see boost from Saudi entry to BRICS
Oil transactions between China and the Gulf may be settled in Chinese currency, but experts do not foresee an end to the dollar’s dominance soon. As Saudi Arabia eyes entry into the BRICS group of nations, there are fears that the kingdom’s vast oil reserves alongside China’s economic power could …
Read More »Turkey detains Kurdish figures ahead of vital polls
At least 126 politicians, journalists, lawyers and artists have been detained in an operation that observers call an intimidation tactic before the May 14 elections. More than 120 people were detained across Turkey on Tuesday in an alleged counter-terrorism operation that targeted mainly Kurdish politicians, journalists, lawyers and artists less …
Read More »Most of the World Wants To Move On From Ukraine | Opinion
The United States and its G7 allies wrapped up their foreign ministers’ meeting in Karuizawa, Japan this week on a note of strength and unity. Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, who facilitated the gathering, couldn’t help but brag about its success during the closing press conference, stressing that “the strength …
Read More »Daniel DePetris: Is NATO stringing along Ukraine about the possibility of membership?
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg’s trip last week to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv was precisely what you would expect from the head of the world’s oldest military alliance. He toured the capital with senior Ukrainian officials, inspected some of the destroyed Russian military equipment left over from Russian President Vladimir …
Read More »Can China broker peace in Ukraine? Don’t rule it out
Xi Jinping’s phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskiy was a long time coming, but it should not have come as a surprise. Beijing is on everyone’s shortlist when it comes to prospective peacemakers in Ukraine. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, is no exception. “I know I can count on you to …
Read More »How to End the War in Ukraine
Over the last year Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has produced a flood tide of commentary, with largely unconstructive volleys back and forth. Roughly speaking there are two main camps. Realists and progressives blame Russia’s invasion principally, sometimes solely, on NATO expansion—a needless, provocative policy that, as they see it, posed …
Read More »How America Is Erasing The Arab Identity – OpEd
The US House of Representatives passed legislation last month to include the Middle East and North Africa as a category in the Uniform Racial Classification Act, which requires state agencies to compile and report statistical data using racial classifications, thus effectively defining which groups are recognized and which are not. …
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