February 21, 2017 | Astute News

Will Saudi Arabia Allow Pakistani General to Command Military Alliance?

February 21, 2017

For the last two months, mystery and confusion has shrouded Gen. Raheel Sharif, Pakistan's retired army chief, over whether he will be the supreme commander of the Saudi-led "Islamic military alliance…

A Journey Through Assad’s Syria

February 21, 2017

Middle East

On an icy January evening in eastern Aleppo, a grotesque scene of destruction, five men are standing around a fire in a battered oil drum in a butcher's shop. Their trousers are dirty and their faces …

Spain Sets Massive Precedent — Charges Its Central Bankers in Court

February 21, 2017

Opinion

First, Iceland, and now Spain has taken on the Big Bankers responsible for financial calamity, as the country’s highest national court charged the former head of Spain’s central bank, a market regulat…

Has There Been a “Nuclear Incident” in the Arctic?

February 21, 2017

Europe

There have been rumblings regarding some sort of nuclear incident—or possibly incidents—in the Arctic over the last month. Multiple reports, some of them from official monitoring organizations, have r…

Rohingya Insurgency Heralds Wider War in Myanmar

February 21, 2017

Opinion

Since Rohingya militant attacks on Myanmar border police last October and the a retaliatory security force crackdown, an uneasy lull has descended over northern Rakhine State. Major military-led “area…

The Perils of Trump Addiction

February 21, 2017

Opinion

Not long after the Lebanese civil war ended more than a quarter of a century ago, I found my landlord in a depressed mood. He had suffered in the fifteen years of war – part of his family had been “cl…

The ‘Blind Sheik’ and The CIA – Media Bury US Support for Radical Islamism

February 21, 2017

Opinion

Two days ago the Takfiri Islamist leader Omar Abdul-Rahman , the so called "Blind Sheik", died in a US prison. He had been found guilty of involvement in the 1993 attempt to bring down the World Trade…

US Navy: Saudi Frigate was Attacked by Unmanned Bomb Boat, Likely Iranian

February 21, 2017

Military

The bomb-laden craft that attacked a Saudi frigate last month was unmanned and likely Iranian, the U.S. Navy has determined. Previously described as a Houthi suicide boat, the U.S. Navy has now determ…