ZARIF CRASHES G-7 MEETING
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s visit to the G-7 meeting on Sunday signals European resistance to the Trump administration’s Iran policy.
Orientul Mijlociu
The end is not near: Sleepwalking through human and military security crises in MENA
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is shouldering the world’s largest humanitarian caseload and most severe crises of undernourishment since World War II. Tens of millions of people in five MENA countries are struggling with chronic hunger, and millions of them are on the brink of famine. MENA has also been grappling with the world’s longest chain of consecutive regional wars every decade since the mid-20th century, now spanning nearly 75 years. These human and military security crises are dangerous because, due to their concurrence and prolongation, they could become locked into a mutually reinforcing cycle.
MARITIME SECURITY IN THE GULF
Amidst escalating tensions in the Persian Gulf, officials from the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) recently met with their counterparts in Iran to discuss maritime security.
Al-Qaeda and the Decentralization of Terrorism
According to several anonymous American intelligence officials, Osama Bin Laden’s favorite son, Hamza, has been killed. Information on when (sometime in the past two years), how (possibly an airstrike), where (likely in Afghanistan) and by whom (involving America) remains unclear. According to some Afghan sources, Hamza had allegedly been spending time in January 2019 in the Shultan Valley of Afghanistan’s northeastern Kunar province, where he was residing with a Lashkar-e-Tayyiba commander known as “Mawyaa.” According to Hamza himself, one of his sons was killed in a possible airstrike in Afghanistan in 2017, so Hamza was clearly being tracked, presumably by those who finally killed him.
Libya’s biggest oilfield shut, NOC declares force majeure
Libya’s Sharara oilfield, the country’s largest, was forced to shut down after a valve on the pipeline linking it to the Zawiya oil terminal was closed late Tuesday evening, state-owned National Oil Corp (NOC) said on Wednesday.
Libya to close ‘inhuman’ migrant detention centres after outcry
Libya plans to shut down three of its biggest migration detention centres, the country’s Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha has announced.
Putin and the Mullahs
For several reasons, the “nuke deal” did not provoke the popular explosion in Iran that some analysts expected. To start with, no one had signed that deal, which meant it was neither a treaty nor a binding international agreement but a wish list.
Germany’s Pro-Iran, Anti-Israel Foreign Policy
Germany has, in fact, been decidedly hostile to Israel in recent years… Germany continues to provide millions of euros annually to organizations that promote anti-Israel BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) and “lawfare” campaigns, anti-Zionism, antisemitism, and violence, according to NGO Monitor.
Hamas, Islamic Jihad: “The Circle of Fire is Expanding”
It seems, then, that for Islamic Jihad and Hamas, the ceasefire understandings, reached under the auspices of Egypt and the UN, are meant to give the Gaza-based groups a chance to continue building their military capabilities without having to worry about Israeli retaliatory measures.
Russia, Turkey, Iran: Adversaries of the West’s NATO Alliance
Germany’s outright rejection of Washington’s request [to support Washington’s proposal for a maritime protection force in the Arabian Gulf to protect shipping from attacks by Iran] is likely to inflame tensions further between Washington and Berlin. U.S. President Donald J. Trump is already at odds with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on a range of issues, from Germany’s obstinate refusal to meet its Nato funding commitments to its pursuit of closer energy ties with Russia through the construction of the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.