Showing 1 - 10 of 39
Here's looking forward to a calmer 2025
News, John J. Metzler, Published on 06/01/2025
» In the swirling whirligig of world events, the past year 2024 was nearly like no other. Extraordinary but often jarring occurrences mixed in a hodgepodge of hope, joy and despair as crucial elections were won and lost, regional conflicts exploded and humanitarian crises boiled over with sickening predictability.
What did we miss in run-up to Assad's ouster?
News, Slavoj Žižek, Published on 23/12/2024
» The downfall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria surprised even the opposition, led by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, offering fertile ground for conspiracy theories.
Syria needs another miracle for peace to stay
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 18/12/2024
» They're still celebrating the miraculous fall of the Assad regime in Damascus, and the killing has stopped in Syria except for parts of the north, east and south. So what are the odds that the man whose fighters brought down the regime, Ahmed al-Sharaa, can bring peace, prosperity and even democracy to Syria?
Rebel win to reshape Syria's fragile future
News, John J. Metzler, Published on 12/12/2024
» The Assad family dictatorship, which ran Syria for 53 years and withstood 13 years of bitter civil war, collapsed in just over a week. A sweeping series of Islamic rebel attacks, starting in late November, captured key cities from Aleppo in the north to Homs and Hama, which fell like dominos, creating an unstoppable military momentum on the road to Damascus.
Syria: It's those jihadis on the march again
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 04/12/2024
» One week in, the ceasefire in Lebanon seems to be holding, but everything is connected: only three days later, the civil war in Syria started up again after a de facto four-year truce.
Kabul collapse emboldened global despots
News, John J. Metzler, Published on 16/08/2024
» The collapse of Afghanistan to the Taliban three years ago on Aug 15 signalled an inflection point on the geopolitical scene. While the appalling stupidity of the Biden/Harris administration's botched and humiliating withdrawal of US forces from this South Asian land stained and sullied the reputation of the United States, the fiasco equally opened the floodgates to the deluge of refugees fleeing the toppled Afghan government in Kabul.
Crippling blow to the global war on terror
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 13/09/2021
» The American-led global war on terror, launched 20 years ago after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks against the United States, was already faltering before President Joe Biden took office. Now it may not recover from the blow delivered by Mr Biden's historic blunder in facilitating the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan. The flag of the world's deadliest terrorists -- responsible for killing over 2,000 US soldiers since 2001 -- flies above Kabul on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Russia is back and it's a little bit better
News, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 13/07/2021
» Make no mistake, Russia is back in Southeast Asia, the region where its former empire reigned during the Cold War. This time, Russia is more sophisticated and more assertive, as another global power that can shift and change the present strategic environment in the most visible way. Today Russia is determined to break US-led sanctions and further integrate its economy with the region's economic dynamics.
Russian ruse may have duped Trump in Syria
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 16/10/2019
» Russia and its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad win, the Kurds lose, and the United States leaves in disgrace. It has been a hectic few days on the Turkish-Syrian border.
Harsh US economic blockades risk provoking war
News, Jeffrey D Sachs, Published on 03/07/2019
» US President Donald Trump has based his foreign policy on a series of harsh economic blockades, each designed to frighten, coerce, and even starve the target country into submitting to American demands. While the practice is less violent than a military attack, and the blockade is through financial means rather than the navy, the consequences are often dire for civilian populations. As such, economic blockades by the United States should be scrutinised by the United Nations Security Council under international law and the UN Charter.