China’s Uyghur Problem: The Recruitment of Uyghur Muslims to Join Al Qaeda

China’s Uyghur Problem: The Recruitment of Uyghur Muslims to Join Al Qaeda

In recent months Western media and the Washington Administration have begun to raise a hue and cry over alleged mass internment camps in China’s northwestern Xinjiang where supposedly up to one million ethnic Uyghur Chinese are being detained and submitted to various forms of “re-education.” Several things about the charges are notable, not the least…

Turkish Strategy in Northern Syria: Military Operations, Turkish-backed Groups and Idlib Issue

Turkish Strategy in Northern Syria: Military Operations, Turkish-backed Groups and Idlib Issue

GENERAL ANALYSIS OF THE SITUATION In order to understand Turkey’s approach toward the conflict in Syria, one first needs to explain the military situation there as of September 2018. There are localized clashes between militant groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) and the Syrian Arab Army (SAA)…