Month: September 2024

The Russo-Ukrainian War And Mackinder’s Heartland Thesis – Analysis

In 1904, Sir Halford J. Mackinder, one of the founders of classical geopolitics, conceptually divided the world into three parts: the pivot area of northeastern and central Eurasia, the surrounding area of an inner crescent of remaining Eurasian and North African territories, and an outer crescent of all the remaining oceanic countries. His notion was that any malicious power able to organize the defined pivot area, which became known as the ‘Heartland,’ and accumulate sufficient highly mobile manpower, inevitably becomes aggressive toward its neighbors on all sides.

The Truth About Ukraine’s NATO Membership

The fact that some of the top Western diplomats and leaders and the overwhelming majority of people of Ukraine had opposed NATO membership should be better known

As the Ukraine crisis continues to escalate and the possibility of a direct confrontation between Russia and USA/NATO also increase, it is important that some facts not generally raised in western mass media should be more widely known in the west and also internationally.

When it comes to Iran’s rulers, there can be no dialogue

Ruling mullahs duly rolled into New York City to attend the U.N. General Assembly, led by Iran’s new “moderate” president, Masoud Pezeshkian.

Two years have passed since the murder of Jina (“Mahsa”) Amini, a young Kurdish-Iranian woman, at the hands of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s morality police. Amini was brutalized and killed for allegedly wearing her hijab, or head-covering, improperly—the sort of “crime” that sends a backward theocracy apoplectic with rage. Her death sparked the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement, the latest and perhaps most significant wave of protest among the millions of ordinary Iranians who have been clamoring for regime change for well over a decade, but who have so far been unable to dislodge the ruling mullahs.

Charting the Future of Organised Crime – and the UK’s Response

As the face of crime continues to evolve in an age of rapid digital innovation, how must the UK’s law enforcement agencies adapt in order to respond effectively?

Last month the National Crime Agency (NCA) published its National Strategic Assessment of Serious and Organised Crime (SOC). It highlights each of the threats the Agency is focused on tackling, from firearms and drugs to child sexual abuse, modern slavery, human trafficking and economic crime. For the first time ever, the top headline this year is not about criminal behaviour; rather, it is about how much more vulnerable we all are to becoming victims. Changes in organised crime are being driven, more than anything else, by our routine dependence – in our personal and working lives – on online services. Indeed, the majority of crime now occurs online or is enabled by online resources. We have all become more vulnerable to organised crime as a result of living more of our lives online.

Houthis Expand Ties Beyond Iran’s Axis

  • The Houthi movement (Ansarallah) in Yemen is diversifying its relationships beyond Iran and other Axis of Resistance partners, increasing its operational autonomy.
  • Russia is expanding strategic ties to the Houthis as leverage against U.S.-led military support for Ukraine, while trying to avoid rupturing its established regional relationships.
  • The Houthis have built ties to the al-Shabaab militant group in Somalia in order to compound the threat the Yemeni group poses to global shipping chokepoints.
  • Houthi procurement networks have obtained key technology from China, even as Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping represent a threat to China’s trade with Europe.

Sources: No Foreign Fighters Arrived to Golan Border, Regime Reinforces its Forces with Russians

Military and local sources in Daraa and Quneitra confirmed to Syria TV that the military situation in southern Syria and along the borders of the occupied Golan remains unchanged.

Local sources in southern Syria have denied claims made by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which cited Israeli security officials stating that the Israeli army is concerned about the arrival of approximately 40,000 fighters from Syria, Iraq, and Yemen to the Golan Heights. These fighters are reportedly awaiting a call to action from Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah.

Why West Africa is now the world’s terrorism hotspot

Having slipped undetected into Mali’s capital weeks ago, the jihadis struck just before dawn prayers. They killed dozens of students at an elite police training academy, stormed Bamako’s airport and set the presidential jet on fire.