FDD researchers have uncovered the Iranian role in creating a network of at least 19 websites that present themselves as independent sources of opinion and analysis for audiences across the globe. Other researchers previously tied several of these sites to Iran, but FDD is the first to identify most of them while documenting the technical indicators that demonstrate their connectedness.
Première partie
Après avoir évoqué la crypto-communauté turque des Donmeh1 – musulmans le jour, israélites la nuit – un curieux texte de Wayne Madsen2 initialement publié par la très sérieuse Strategic Culture Foundation en octobre 2011, a été récemment remis en ligne sur le site dissident CounterPunch3. Un texte éclairant qui retrace la filiation souterraine existant entre la Turquie kémaliste et la dynastie des Séoud… celle-ci apparaissant curieusement comme une sorte de reflet oriental de l’Amérique contemporaine, tout à la fois rigidement puritaine et moralement corrompue.
In July, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he would be open to hosting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for a visit to Turkey. Normalization will not come easily or soon, but Erdoğan’s push for rapprochement is in itself remarkable. Given the intensity of Turkey’s commitment a decade ago to overthrowing Assad and ushering in a new era in the Middle East, this moment marks an end to an extraordinarily tumultuous period in Turkish history.
The persistent threat posed by Daesh is a stark reminder that terrorism remains a major concern worldwide. Even though significant efforts have been made to weaken it, the group has shown a troubling ability to adapt and continue its operations. This threat extends beyond the Middle East and poses a danger to the global community. As a result, it is crucial to maintain strong security measures, especially regarding America’s borders, to prevent terrorists from entering the country.
Elections aren’t until Oct. 20, but disinformation campaigns are in full swing.
Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region will hold elections on Oct. 20. Although the formal campaign has not yet begun, the so-called “shadow media” is already in full swing spreading disinformation, promoting political spin, and attacking rivals.
Since the outbreak of the Gaza war, the Assad regime has seen measured advances in its situation that fall well short of real success.
The war in Gaza has had a paradoxical effect on Syria and the Assad regime in Damascus. Escalating tensions between Iran and Israel in the shadow of the Gaza conflict have heightened the risk that Syria may be drawn into a war that it can ill afford. Yet, the conflict has also shifted international attention back to the Middle East, including Syria. After a challenging 2023 marked by setbacks for the regime—the failed reconciliation between Syria and Türkiye, the stalled process of rapprochement between Syria and the Arab countries, and a worsening economic situation that ignited protests, notably in Suwayda—Syria has regained some significance, breathing new life into previously stalled political processes.
In a diplomatic move, Türkiye is seeking BRICS membership, potentially expanding its alliances beyond traditional Western partners while maintaining its NATO membership. Meanwhile, Iran is set to supply Russia with ballistic missiles within days, potentially escalating the war, as some Ukrainian allies have yet to deliver on promises made at the July NATO summit.
The Israeli political and security objectives of the military operation in the northern West Bank and the Jordan Valley are numerous and complex and are linked in their timing to the course of confrontation on other fronts, especially the fronts of the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, and the seriousness of the development of the situation in the West Bank is not only related to the course of the Palestinian arena, but affects the Jordanian interior.
It’s unrealistic that China would ever abandon its investments in Russia or Pakistan, but those two’s connectivity roles for it vis-à-vis the EU and West Asia/Africa respectively can be complemented by Turkey and Iran via the Middle Corridor.
Up until the beginning of this year, China’s grand strategy was to rely on a network of connectivity corridors across its Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) to integrate Eurasia and thus advance its non-Western model of globalization, which Beijing believes to be more equal, just, and multipolar than the declining Western-centric one. This ambitious plan was abruptly disrupted by two black swan events that created sudden uncertainty about the viability of BRI’s Russian and Pakistani routes: Moscow’s ongoing special military operation in Ukraine and Islamabad’s scandalous change of government.
Since 2007, when the State of Israel implemented its still-ongoing blockade of Gaza, several different monikers have emerged to describe the conditions for Palestinians living in the territory under the ongoing Israeli siege. Now, after 11 months of the murderous Israeli assault on the people of Gaza, it is necessary once again to revise what the State of Israel has imposed on the territory. What the state of Israel has created in the Gaza Strip is nothing less than a death camp akin to what the Nazis created for the massacre of Jews and other so-called enemies of the Reich.