In the first week of the month of October the US informed Turkey and Russia of its intention to withdraw from north-east Syria (NES). Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan pulled out a plan prepared over a year ago to move forces into NES and take control of cities like Manbij, Ain al-Arab and Ras al-Ayn:…
In a complex situation like the actual one in north and northeast Syria, one has to clarify what is the principal contradiction. As far as I know, this concept is due to Mao Zedong (see “On Contradiction” (1937)). So, what is this principal contradiction? In my eyes, we have on the one hand the forces…
The ceasefire agreement brokered by Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday accomplishes very little outside of putting window dressing on a foregone conclusion. Simply put, the Turks will be able to achieve their objectives of clearing a safe zone of Kurdish forces south of the Turkish border, albeit under…
Former US Presidential Candidate, Pat Buchanan has written, “the Middle East and world, have been awakened to the reality that, when Trump said he was ending everlasting commitments and bringing U.S. troops home from “endless wars,” he was not bluffing. The Saudis got the message when the U.S., in response to a missile and drone…
The roughly three dozen African heads of state who will travel to Sochi later this week to attend the first-ever Russia-Africa Summit realize that the comprehensive expansion of relations with the Eurasian Great Power gives them a competitive edge in the New Cold War and can help them thwart the many plots associated with the…
House of Commons Speaker John Bercow denied Boris Johnson’s government a meaningful vote on his EU Withdrawal Treaty on Monday after allowing Oliver Letwin to table an amendment designed to force the Government to withdraw it on Saturday. That amendment passed and the vote was withdrawn. And the question now is what’s next? The better…
