While both Tehran and Washington were eager to deny a New York Times report which claimed they had agreed “in principle for the first time to one-on-one negotiation,” the covert war between the main camps in the Middle East moved to the Lebanese capital Beirut. Even more than a coup for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad […]
After the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, where four Americans (including the U.S. ambassador) were killed, the debate about what went wrong has grown into a heated partisan debate. From it, a refrain of sorts has emerged: we should not “politicize” foreign policy. People of the left and of the right preach that talk of the Benghazi […]
Representatives of Iran and the European Union are scheduled to hold a telephone conversation in the next few days about the negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. Ali Baqeri, the deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), made the announcement during a speech at the University of Tehran on Monday. “Today, they, the office of […]
Soft power tools have served Ankara well in the past, but the Turkish government is no longer in a position to distance itself from the region’s disputes if it envisages a leadership role. Read Here – Gulf News
Iraq has no national foreign policy. For the past decade, a lack of unity among its ruling elite has failed to allow for a unified approach towards its international relations — one that could have protected the country from becoming a playground for outside powers, with disastrous consequences for its political and security stability. Read […]
Bashar al-Assad has failed to quell a stubborn rebellion despite his regime’s massive edge in military manpower and weaponry — but also because of these material advantages. His forces, replete with heavy armor, attack aircraft, and big guns, have tried to use something akin to our Powell Doctrine of “overwhelming force.” Yet the insurgents’ nimble, loose-jointed networks […]
This summer, a group known as the “Cutting Sword of Justice” slashed its way across world headlines with bold attacks on oil and gas industry. But what makes the series attacks noteworthy is not that they were successfully planned and carried out, it’s how they happened: in cyberspace. Brazen cyber-attacks were carried out against Saudi […]
IT seems that media consensus has been conclusively reached: Turkey has been forced into a Middle Eastern mess not of its own making; the “Zero Problems with Neighbors” notion, once the foreign policy centerpiece of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), is all but a romantic notion of no use in realpolitik. Turkey’s “policy’s goal […]
Events around Syria‘s borders have created new hope this week, in some quarters at least, that foreign intervention to end Syria’s agony may be drawing near. In fact, the latest developments fall far short of creating the necessary conditions for decisive action by outsiders. But they do tell us that the 21 million Syrians will not […]
A team of U.S. military planners is in Jordan to help the government grapple with Syrian refugees, bolster its military capabilities and prepare for any trouble with its chemical weapons stockpiles, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Wednesday. “We have been working with Jordan for a period of time now … on a number […]
looking beyond borders 