People in Okinawa have expressed little hope that Joe Biden, elected Saturday as the next U.S. president, will review a controversial Japan-U.S. plan to relocate a key U.S. military base within the southernmost island prefecture.
Before 2015, Russia was a largely inconsequential actor in the Middle East – seemingly lacking the means or credibility to exert a meaningful influence on individual countries, let alone the region as a whole. However, everything changed when the Kremlin militarily intervened in Syria in September 2015 in an operation it claimed at the time was intended to combat terrorism. Russia’s intervention was launched in close coordination with Iran, at the express invitation of Damascus, and at a time when Bashar al-Assad’s regime was at the edge of implosion. Within a year, Russia had turned the tide of Syria’s crisis, creating conditions in which an initially subtle Western fatigue was becoming increasingly evident.
Though Empire-builders of the first order, the Ottomans were always careful not to bite more than they could chew. Erdogan, however, is leading Turkey into empire-building adventures which it does not want and cannot afford.
It has… launched a war of words with the European Union as a whole. Ostensibly, Turkey’s beef is about old maritime demarcation lines that deny it the right to tap underwater oil and gas resources. What Erdogan does not realize is that the potential market for those resources is the very European Union he is now casting as enemy. In any case, the disputed resources cannot be tapped without massive investment from the West, not to mention the technology needed.
The European Union is rushing through new legislation to get rid of end to end digital encryption. This would mean the end of privacy for users of popular messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal.
Reactions to Monday’s brutal terrorist attack in Vienna, which claimed four lives and injured 22, have followed a well-known pattern. Politicians around the world express their horror, pay their condolences and then, in the same breath, demand further powers for the police and secret services along with tougher action against immigrants.
The Takfiri terror group of Daesh reportedly attacks an army post in Baghdad, killing 11 people, including members of the Hashd al-Sha’abi or Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) anti-terror force, and wounding eight others.
Emmanuel Macron parle de “crise de l’islam”. C’est la moindre des choses!
La décapitation de Samuel Paty, par un terroriste islamiste, pour avoir enseigné la liberté d’expression à ses élèves lors d’un cours d’histoire avait horrifié la France. Les assassinats qui se succèdent depuis, en France ou en Europe, menacent au contraire de banaliser la terreur. L’objectif de ces crimes est limpide : perpétuer le projet impérial d’une religion qui veut liquider nos principes civilisationnels.
Middle Eastern politics is always a trap for radical ideologues. In Erdoğan’s mindset the “infidel West” is militarily helping Armenia (the evil) and Turkey is militarily helping Azerbaijan (the righteous).
Although Ankara and Baku categorically deny accusations, press reports and independent human rights observers have confirmed the arrival of hundreds of jihadists in Azerbaijan to fight Armenia.
Turkey’ sPresident, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, always strives to transfer his internal crises by distracting Turkish public opinion with fabricated issues abroad.Erdogan has become an expert in this field, especially, when the matter is religious and linked to Islam and Muslims. The reason is that religious matters are easy to be utilised and employed in serving Erdogan’s agendas inside and outside Turkey.
