A recent Reuters report about the supposed prevalence of so-called “fake news” ahead of Mexico’s upcoming election this weekend quotes an anonymous Facebook employee who alleged that people are being paid to like, share, and comment on posts, which disturbingly suggests that the company might take punitive action against users who innocently interact with what…
Iran, in the latest of a series of incidents on its western and south-eastern borders, said it had disbanded a Pakistan-based cell of ant-Shiite militants in a clash this week on the Iranian side of the border. The clash, shrouded in mystery like similar past incidents in the ethnic Baloch province of Sistan and Baluchistan…
Last month, the long-dreaded invasion of the port city of Hodeidah finally began. Although there is now a “pause” in fighting as UN envoy Martin Griffiths attempts to persuade the Houthis to give up the port, this is unlikely to last. The ceasefire probably came about because the western-backed coalition needed time to lick its…
“I once rescued a friend from drowning when he was swept away by the force of the current as we were swimming in the Diyala river,” says Qasim Sabti, a painter and gallery owner in Baghdad. “That was 50 years ago,” he recalls. “I went back there recently and the water in the Diyala is…
“NATO” can be a rather elusive concept: Libya was a NATO operation, even though Germany kept out of it. Somalia was not a NATO operation even though Germany was in it. Canada, a founding NATO member, was in Afghanistan but not in Iraq. Some interventions are NATO, others aren’t. But it doesn’t really mean much because NATO is only a box of…
Iran’s ominous rhetoric about making the OPEC+ countries “pay” for their “treachery” to it and hinting at taking action to stop Gulf exports has had its desired effect in raising the oil price, and similar such statements in the run-up to the November reimposition of US sanctions against the country’s energy industry should also be…
