Author: M Barbu

A Moscow meeting shatters fantasies of a Syrian ‘confederation’

The newly-initiated Syrian-Turkish rapprochement talks are headed in Damascus’ favor and the “Turkish concessions” derided by opponents are just the start, insiders tell The Cradle.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has already abandoned his dream of “praying in the Umayyad Mosque” in Damascus. But sources say this will be swiftly followed by further concessions that will throw a wrench into the ambitions of Syria’s opposition factions.

Predictions for 2023? Annus horribilis with some surprising upsides

Predictions are a notoriously painful exercise. In the world of geopolitics, especially during a time of seismic global transformation, they are nigh near impossible to make.

In West Asia, a depressed and neglected region that acts as a punching bag for Great Power competition elsewhere, much relies on the settlement of major power battles in the realms of economy, politics, and (proxy) war.

By the numbers: The de-dollarization of global trade

Data suggests that US dollar reserves in central banks are dwindling, as is the influence of the US on the world economy. This presents a unique opportunity for regional currencies and alternative payment systems to enter the vacuum.

The imposition of US trade restrictions and sanctions against a number of nations, including Russia, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Iraq, and Syria have been politically ineffectual and have backfired against western economies. As a result, the US dollar has been losing its role as a major currency for the settlement of international business claims.

Will Kurds’ choice to field own candidate benefit Erdogan or Turkey’s opposition?

Turkey’s major pro-Kurdish opposition party has announced it will field its own candidate in a move sure to have a profound impact on the presidential race, but in which direction?

Turkey’s third-largest political party, the pro-Kurdish Democratic People’s Party (HDP), announced over the weekend that it will field its own candidate in the critical presidential elections due to be held by June 18 concurrently with parliamentary ones.

„Albanska javnost pritiska Tužilaštvo da ne postupi kako bi trebalo u slučaju pripadnika KBS koji je pucao na srpskog dečaka i mladića“

Direktor RTV KiM Isak Vorgučić kaže da za Danas da ne očekuje da kosovsko tužilaštvo postupi profesionalno i moralno u slučaju ranjavanja dečaka i mladića srpske nacionalnosti u Štrpcu, na koje je za Badnji dan pucao pripadnik Kosovskih bezbednosnih snaga, a kao ključan ističe pritisak albanske javnosti na KiM.

Lessons for the Next War

Predictions about the future of war follow narratives and intellectual fashions. At the beginning of the millennium, the emergence of high-tech drones—the U.S. military’s all-seeing eyes in Afghanistan—fueled futuristic visions of battles contested by robots and computers. By the mid-2010s, the success of Russian information operations, election interference, and weaponized corruption in Europe and the United States had given rise to the idea that even a major country could be controlled without the use of force. Others thought that mutual dependence on trade and commerce in a globalized age would render a major war unlikely—or keep it locally contained.

Démantèlement d’une cellule de l’Etat islamique au Maroc et en Espagne

Une cellule affiliée à l’organisation Etat islamique (EI), composée de trois suspects, a été démantelée en Espagne et au Maroc lors d’une opération sécuritaire conjointe, a indiqué mercredi la police marocaine.

Un des “éléments extrémistes” a été interpellé par les forces spéciales de la Direction Générale de la Surveillance du Territoire (DGST) à Chtouka Aït Baha, région rurale dans le sud du Maroc, a précisé le Bureau central d’investigations judiciaires (BCIJ) dans un communiqué. L’homme a été placé en garde à vue.