[E]conomic writer Charles Hugh Smith has repeatedly warned [about] the “crapification” of the U.S. economy…. customers with scant other buying options are forced to accept that few purchases will last.
Politicians seem to be heading in a similar direction…. Western governments are filled to the brim with people entirely lacking in real-world experience or specialized knowledge.
The Chinese strategic community kept a close eye as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met the newly appointed Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting on 2 March 2023. The meeting generated much concern within the Chinese strategic circles as it was understood to have generated more contradiction than consensus between the two sides. The mainstream Chinese discourse post the meeting was that “China needs to prepare for the worst at the LAC”.
Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has led to a renewed focus on the geopolitical importance of the Black Sea. What the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has overlooked is Russia’s use—often in coordination with Iran—of the Caspian Sea to advance its war aims in Ukraine. The Caspian Sea offers Russia a strategic depth to strike targets far afield in a relatively safe manner, is currently the only way for Russia to reinforce its Black Sea Fleet, and serves as a transport conduit allowing Iran to deliver military assistance to Russia for use against Ukraine.
The downing of a US drone by Russian military aircraft over the Black Sea on March 14 is the kind of incident that immediately sparks fears of the conflict in Ukraine escalating into a shooting war between NATO and Russia.
While the potential for such a scenario exists, it is likely that at this stage all sides will try to calm matters down. Neither the US-led West nor Russia is currently prepared for or have the desire for a direct confrontation with each other.
Après un an d’intenses tractations, Wassim Nasr, le spécialiste des mouvements jihadistes à France 24, est parvenu en exclusivité à envoyer ses questions à l’émir d’Al-Qaïda au Maghreb islamique (Aqmi), Abou Obeida Youssef al-Annabi. Départ de Barkhane, menace terroriste sur la France, stratégie d’expansion vers le Golfe de Guinée… notre chroniqueur décrypte et met en contexte les réponses du chef de l’organisation terroriste.
The most successful Kurdish political experiment in West Asia is unravelling due to increasing divisions between the KDP and PUK, the two biggest political parties in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Iraq’s Kurds, as with other mainly Iranic populations across western and southern Asia, are busy preparing to celebrate Nowruz on March 21, the Persian new year which marks the beginning of Spring.
The move continues a trend reversing aspects of Kurdish autonomy gained since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq
For the first time since 2002, oil revenues from Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will be transferred to a bank account supervised by the Iraqi central government, state-run Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported on 17 March, citing the prime minister’s media adviser Hisham al-Rekaby.
Tehran and Riyadh recently agreed to restore diplomatic relations under the auspices of China
Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said on 15 March that investments in Iran could happen “very quickly” following the signing of a normalization agreement.
At a time when conflicts are increasingly interconnected, and provide tactical levers to assert pressure elsewhere, the competition between Russia-Iran and Turkiye in Syria and the South Caucasus is destined to overlap.
Despite being in conflict with armed resistance factions in the West Bank, Palestinian Authority forces have also collaborated with them, posing a challenge to those who seek to divide Palestinians.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has reportedly agreed to implement a controversial US proposal aimed at restoring its control over northern West Bank areas that are currently dominated by newly formed Palestinian resistance groups. However, the plan, lacking an understanding of the realities on the ground, may have unintended consequences.