Showing 1 - 10 of 11
Red Sea raids push US and allies to crunch point
News, Peter Apps, Published on 15/01/2024
» When the United States and 11 allies published a joint statement last week calling for an end to Houthi attacks from Yemen on Red Sea shipping, they hoped the implicit threat of force might at least reduce the intensity of fire on foreign vessels.
Biden's Asia policy and the Iranian conundrum
Oped, Nehginpao Kipgen and Vikas Nagal, Published on 19/03/2021
» The Barack Obama administration's "Pivot to Asia" grand strategy was designed to pull the US out of the Middle East quagmire and to realign its military, diplomatic and economic power towards the Asia-Pacific region. Even the Trump administration -- which pulled out of many of Obama's initiatives such as the Iran nuclear deal, Paris Climate Accord and the Trans-Pacific Partnership -- largely followed this approach.
Iran: Yet another nuclear bungle?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 17/02/2021
» The self-esteem of two-year-olds and nation states is too fragile for them to admit they were wrong, which makes it hard for them to move on from blunders. That's why the toys don't get picked up and the broken treaties don't get fixed, and why there may be a tantrum (in the case of two-year-olds) or a nuclear war (in the case of the United States and Iran).
Vietnam's homework before Nha Trang
News, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 14/01/2020
» The latest development in the Middle East and the status of President Donald Trump's invitation for a special summit with Asean leaders in the US will top the agenda of the first foreign ministers' retreat in Nha Trang this week.
Concentric Mideast wars and prospects
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 10/01/2020
» Nothing captures attention in an age of media saturation like the talk of war. The recent decision by US President Donald Trump to assassinate a top Iranian official, Quds Force Commander Major General Qassem Soleimani, has conjured up the spectre of a wider conflict encompassing not just the Middle East but the broader world, as Iran's top leaders deemed it "an act of war" and vowed "severe revenge". Although Iran's military and its proxy militias and client states in the Middle East and elsewhere are poised to exact retribution for their loss, we are unlikely to see a world war in the immediate aftermath of this killing.
Tantrum turns deadly
News, Post Reporters, Published on 09/01/2020
» The opinion piece, "Was the killing of Iran's Soleimani justifiable?" on Jan 8 misses the point. The point is that Donald Trump was feeling frustrated about a number of things (being impeached, the attack on the embassy in Iraq) and some dim-witted general gave him the option of lashing out to express his frustration and he did. Afterwards, all his enablers are trying to make it sound like some rational, well thought out decision, but in fact, it wasn't much different than a small spoiled child impulsively lashing out in anger because things weren't going his way.
Plastic use not a 'right'
News, Postbag, Published on 08/01/2020
» Re: "Activist: Customers' rights infringed by plastic bag ban", (Online, Jan 6).
Despite strong words, war with Iran not inevitable
News, Hussein Ibish, Bloomberg opinion columnist, Published on 06/01/2020
» Now that the US has taken out Qassem Soleimani, arguably the most important military figure in the 40-year history of the Islamic Republic, conventional wisdom holds that Tehran must respond with extreme prejudice. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has promised "severe retaliation", and his regime is putting out videos of thousands of Iranian mourners demanding vengeance.
UN must act to defuse tensions
News, Editorial, Published on 05/01/2020
» After the killing of Iran's top military commander Maj Gen Qassem Soleimani by the US on Friday morning, the world is gripped with worry over a new round of proxy war between the world power and its arch enemy.
Try as it may, Iran can't ban social media platforms
News, Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, Published on 11/01/2019
» Iran's National Cyberspace Council is planning to block Instagram, the last social-media platform freely accessible in the country. This is unlikely to trouble Iranian Instagrammers, who will continue to use the platform through virtual private networks, or VPNs, that route traffic through internet connections abroad. This workaround allows Iranians to evade government filters and access banned platforms like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, and apps like WhatsApp and Telegram.