Author: M Barbu

A Growing Divergence of Security Narratives in Burkina Faso – Africa Center

Burkina Faso’s security, economic, and humanitarian conditions continue to deteriorate under the military junta despite a high-volume information campaign.

Since seizing power in a military coup in September 2022, Burkina Faso’s ruling junta under Captain Ibrahim Traoré has prioritized controlling the narrative of this Sahelian country of 23 million people. With the aid of a cadre of online influencers, intelligence-linked operatives, and affiliated media pages—the Traoré junta has extolled his reported achievements as a transformative leader paralleling the iconic Thomas Sankara.

Despite huge manpower losses, how is Russia replenishing its military?

Moscow’s tactics, on the battlefield and domestically, are incentivising men to join and stick to the army.

When President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Ivan Chenin left his comfortable life as a student in Moscow to deliver aid as a volunteer to the separatist Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics of eastern Ukraine, which Russia now claims as its “new territories”.

Clinging to nostalgia won’t save Iran’s regime from the next war

On the streets of Tehran, the oppressive heat continues, with a drought and water crisis putting the city of 10 million under pressure. The 12-day war between Israel and Iran may have ended in June, but nerves are frayed.

Some Iranians have fled abroad, while others have returned from their Caspian Sea hideaways or rural relatives to a capital that doesn’t quite feel like itself, despite numerous official attempts to portray the country as being back to normal.

Will China help Iran build a new air force?

The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) was conspicuously absent during the unprecedented 12-day June war with Israel.

Its fighter jets are so antiquated that, with a few exceptions, the Israeli Air Force largely left them alone.

With another round of hostilities seemingly inevitable, and having waited in vain for Su-35 Flanker fighters it ordered from Russia years ago, the question of whether Iran will turn to China to modernise its air force is arguably more relevant than ever.

Police ‘overzealous’ in censoring MI5 report on Northern Ireland

Campaigners in Belfast have criticised police for not releasing a file from the Troubles after similar documents were discovered in Foreign Office archives.

Police in Northern Ireland continue to withhold a Troubles-era report by an MI5 veteran despite his dispatches from other countries being made public.

Libye: le renforcement des relations entre le maréchal Haftar et la Turquie se poursuit

Initié en avril dernier, le rapprochement entre Ankara et l’homme fort de l’est libyen s’est poursuivi lundi 25 août avec la visite à Benghazi du chef des renseignements turcs, Ibrahim Kalin. Une première pour un responsable turc de ce niveau depuis 2020.

Le maréchal Khalifa Haftar, qui contrôle les parties est et sud de la Libye, a reçu ce lundi 25 août dans son quartier général de Benghazi le chef des renseignements turcs, Ibrahim Kalin, arrivé à la tête d’une haute délégation militaire. Pour l’occasion, son hôte était lui entouré de ses deux fils, Saddam et Khaled Haftar, récemment promus à la tête de l’Armée nationale libyenne (ANL) : alors que le premier en a été nommé vice-commandant général, le second en est devenu le chef d’état major.

Syria’s Agreement with Israel Is Not as Promising as Advertised

The world is celebrating the anticipated signing of a security agreement between Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and Israel, hailed as evidence of Sharaa’s moderation and a departure from his radical Islamist past. However, this narrative is misleading. Islamist doctrine permits, and even encourages, temporary truces—up to 10 years—with adversaries until conditions favor a stronger position. This strategy is modeled on the Prophet Muhammad’s Treaty of Hudaybiyyah with the Quraysh of Mecca in 628 CE. Hamas has repeatedly proposed 10-year truces with Israel as an alternative to peace or a two-state solution.