India and Iran are the only two governments in the world which didn’t welcome the US-Taliban peace deal because they both realize the enormity of what they stand to lose by America’s pragmatic rapprochement with the same organization that it blames for facilitating the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but neither of them can really do much…
Following 6 hours of grueling negotiations, including direct negotiations between Putin and Erdogan, the parties have finally agreed to the following: A ceasefire will begin at midnight. Russia and Turkey will jointly patrol the M4 highway (M5 now belongs to Damascus). A 6km buffer zone will have to be created and enforced on each side…
The media has done a poor job of explaining what’s actually taking place in Idlib Province in Syria. That’s unfortunate, but the facts are pretty clear. A year and a half ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a deal in Sochi. No one twisted Erdogan’s arm to sign the…
“Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad”— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow “Prometheus” It looks like Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is headed for the political gallows a lot quicker than I ever thought. His offensive in Idlib has bogged down. And a day before he’s scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in…
A mini mutiny in Kabul against the US-Taliban deal has been nipped in the bud and it should sound warning bells in Washington that the real threat to peacemaking in Afghanistan comes from one principal source — the interest groups that monopolise state agencies and are loathe to transfer power. Isolating the Kabul cliques amidst…
Traditionally, there are two danger zones for Russian foreign policy. The first is when Russia is too weak and the West dismisses its national interest as irrelevant. This lasted for the first two decades in the life of the Russian Federation. It began with the Kosovo war, Nato’s eastern expansion, the US decision to withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic…
