All Aboard the Post-TPP World

All Aboard the Post-TPP World

A half-hearted near handshake between US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin before and after they spoke «for about four minutes», standing up, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima, Peru, captured to perfection the melancholic dwindling of the Obama era. A whirlwind flashback of the fractious relationship between…

Stronghold Al-Bab: Whoever Controls Northern Syria Influences the Entire Middle East

Stronghold Al-Bab: Whoever Controls Northern Syria Influences the Entire Middle East

The city of Al-Bab is located in the northern part of the Aleppo Province (about 36km northeast of Aleppo,  about 26km south of border with Turkey), and remains under ISIS control. Its strategic importance increased after Kurdish and SDF forces took Manbij which had served as an important ISIS logistical node for 2.5 years, helping transfer…