An offer by a Saudi-backed bank to lend financially strapped Pakistan US$4 billion is likely intended to bolster Saudi influence when former international cricket player Imran Khan is sworn in in the coming week as the South Asian country’s next prime minister. The offer was most immediately related to a statement by Asad Umar, Pakistan’s…
Tension is silently mounting between Israel and Hezbollah on the Lebanese border, where frenetic preparations are taking place, under the watchful eyes of both belligerents. There is an unusual state of alert, yet hardly visible to the naked eye: Israel is increasing its patrols on the borders, rising the deployment of officers and soldiers in…
Saudi conduct of its ill-fated war in Yemen coupled with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s alignment with the Trump administration and Israel, and his often coercive approach to diplomatic relations, has opened the door to challenges of the kingdom’s moral leadership of the Sunni Muslim world, a legitimizing pillar of the ruling Al Saud family’s…
Hysteria reigned supreme after the first round of US sanctions were reinstated against Iran over the past week. War scenarios abound, and yet the key aspect of the economic war unleashed by the Trump administration has been overlooked: Iran is a major piece in a much larger chessboard. The US sanctions offensive, launched after Washington’s…
The online news publication The Intercept referred to their sources in diplomatic circles in its reports that Arabic countries lobbied to have Rex Tillerson removed from his post as the US Secretary of State because they were not happy with his work. According to information leaked to the press, the US Secretary of State irritated…
The global silence over Israel’s hopes that “the Iranian regime would disappear entirely from this world” stands in stark contrast to the worldwide outrage over similarly phrased wishes on behalf of Iran 12 years ago to see its Zionist enemy “vanish from the pages of time”. International Relations are characterized by double standards because each actor…
