The opening of Sheikh Baqir al-Irawani’s office in Najaf indicates that he may be preparing to be one of the successors to 92-year-old Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, head of the Shiite religious authority. It appears that the sudden death of Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim, who was the most …

The EU Set the Stage for Belarus’s Cynical Ploy Over the past month, as thousands of migrants gathered on Belarus’s border with Poland and tried to cross into the European Union, some European leaders accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of engaging in a “hybrid war.” In an effort to put …

The Sectarian Resurgence in the Post-American Middle East The Biden administration’s mantra for the Middle East is simple: “end the ‘forever wars.’” The White House is preoccupied with managing the challenge posed by China and aims to disentangle the United States from the Middle East’s seemingly endless and unwinnable conflicts. …

The Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) said on Wednesday it had recaptured more than eight towns from the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), including the historic town of Lalibela, helping push the TPLF further back from the capital. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office announced on Wednesday that Lalibela had …

Naval ships from Russia and countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are holding their first-ever joint exercise, signalling Moscow’s intent to engage the region though not heralding a major shift in its geopolitical strategy, analysts say. The first ARNEX-21 joint exercise opened on Wednesday in Indonesian waters …

The Kremlin has downplayed a renewed threat by Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka to cut Russian gas supplies to the European Union in response to Poland’s possible move to shut down its border with Belarus over an ongoing migrant crisis. The EU has blamed Lukashenka’s regime for funeling thousands of migrants …

NATO allies are concerned about Russia’s military build-up along the border with Ukraine, and Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia will face serious consequences if it once again invades the country. Stoltenberg spoke to the Reuters NEXT Global Conference at the conclusion of the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting in Riga, …

Možná to velká část z nás tak necítí, ale v posledních třiceti letech jsme se Německu dokázali přiblížit. Ne tolik, jak jsme si v roce 1989 představovali. Do německých platů, rychlovlaků, úrovně školství, dálnic a celkového fungování státu máme pořád daleko. Už to není vzdálenost několika světelných let jako v …

The National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) reported that the military equipment found in a bunker in the district of Huriwa included, among other means of warfare, mortar shells and bomb-making drums. The agency also indicated in a document that during the mission it arrested three Al-Shabab militants, who will …

If insecurity in Burkina Faso keeps up, the West African nation could spiral into a humanitarian and human rights “catastrophe,” the U.N. human rights chief said Wednesday. Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, spoke to The Associated Press during her first visit to the war-weakened nation, which …