Author: M Barbu

Taliban And Islamic State Continue To Fight For Afghanistan’s Future – OpEd

The Taliban’s ability to lead Afghanistan remains questionable and ongoing instability has provided the Islamic State the opportunity for expansion.

On April 25, 2023, U.S. officials confirmed that the Taliban had killed the head of the Islamic State (IS) cell operating in Afghanistan. Though his identity has not been revealed, the IS leader is believed to have masterminded the 2021 Kabul airport attack that killed 170 Afghan civilians and 13 U.S. military personnel.

Migrants’ Mass Expulsions from Croatia Raise Legal Doubts

Croatia and Bosnia say the expulsion of hundreds of migrants and refugees from the first to the second country are regulated by a bilateral agreement – but NGOs, rights groups and a legal expert question its legality.
Since the end of March 2023, hundreds of migrants and refugees have been returned from Croatia back to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

New and Better Generation of Politicians in Bosnia is a Myth

The younger generation of politicians in Bosnia has brought about no positive change at all in the country’s confrontational politics – and won’t do in future.

Among the many follies generated by the NGO sector in Bosnia in the post-war period is that a new generation of politicians in Bosnia will bring change. This sounded both polite and hopeful. The narrative was that once the politicians of the 1990s exited the political scene, a new and a brighter beginning was assured.

Angry Ankara

Türkiye is raising the heat on the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, denouncing its ties with the Syrian Democratic Forces.

After a helicopter carrying Syrian Kurdish fighters crashed in Duhok on March 26, Türkiye imposed a ban on all flights to and from Sulaimaniyah through its airspace. It did so because it has accused the main party in Sulaimaniyah, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), of allowing members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to use the airport. According to the Turks, the SDF serves as a proxy for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Ankara considers a terrorist organization. However, the SDF has consistently denied this link, as has the United States. Servan Kobani, the commander of the SDF’s antiterror units, the YAT, was among those killed in the crash, and is a nephew of the SDF’s top leader Mazloum Abdi.

Sudan’s Cyber War

Beneath the visible, physical fighting, another war is raging online.

In April 2023, conflict erupted again in Sudan, pitting the Sudanese armed forces against the Rapid Support Forces, RSF, a paramilitary group that is loyal to the deputy head of Sudan’s ruling council. By April 17, three days after things first escalated in Khartoum, more than 180 people had died, 1,800 were injured, and at the moment, many more have been forced to move, some to hostile regions.

Yes, Erdogan’s rule might actually end this weekend

Can elections remove an autocrat like Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from power? If you pose this question to Turkey watchers in Western capitals to get their take on the country’s upcoming election, you will get a resounding “no” from a significant number of them. Some will say Erdogan is still very popular—or at least adept at mobilizing his followers. Others will argue that elections do not matter in the entrenched autocracy he has built; one way or another, he will find a way to stay in power. Take the Western conventional wisdom about this Sunday’s election with a grain of salt, and here’s why.

Turkey’s 2023 Elections: Perspectives on a Critical Vote

It is a cliché for politicians to claim that an upcoming election is the most critical vote in the history of the country. In Turkey’s case, however, the presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14 are indeed the most consequential ever. The prospects for Turkey’s democratic future are at stake. If President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wins another term, Turkey will degenerate further into authoritarianism in which elections will not matter. If the opposition wins, however, Turkey’s democracy will have a shot at consolidating. While there is much optimism among opposition supporters that change through the ballot box is within reach, anxiety and fear over election security are not in short supply either.

Sudan’s Two Truths

Amidst a flurry of international voices working to mediate the crisis in Sudan, the United States must not allow Sudanese civil society to be drowned out.

As rival security forces continue vying for power in Sudan by terrorizing its population, the prospects for an end to the crisis seem to grow more distant by the day. The “pre-negotiation talks” in Saudi Arabia hold only a tenuous promise of the most minimal steps toward easing the suffering. Most indicators point toward continued fighting, and the stream of bad news and failed ceasefires can make it seem as though an even deeper crisis is inevitable. But there are two important truths about Sudan that analysts and policymakers should keep front and center in the weeks ahead to point the way forward.

Why Is Pakistan Moving Towards A Failed State? Drastic Structural Reforms Are Required – OpEd

During the Second World War, the allied powers of the US, former Soviet Union, Great Britain, Germany, and France, being eminent winners in the war, laid the foundation of the United Nations and made international arrangements at the end of colonialism. Consequently, post-colonial nations emerged, and geographical boundaries were drawn for political and economic reasons to protect their interests in a future global order. Pakistan is one of those nation-states in post-colonial nationhood.

The Privatization of War, American-Style

The way mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and his private army have been waging a significant part of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine has been well covered in the American media, not least of all because his firm, the Wagner Group, draws most of its men from Russia’s prison system. Wagner offers “freedom” from Putin’s labor camps only to send those released convicts to the front lines of the conflict, often on brutal suicide missions.