Indian Muslims: A Rich Hunting Ground for Middle Eastern Rivals

Indian Muslims: A Rich Hunting Ground for Middle Eastern Rivals

When President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently declared that Turkey was “the only country that can lead the Muslim world,” he probably wasn’t only thinking of Middle Eastern and other Islamic states such as Pakistan and Bangladesh. Increasingly, there is evidence that Indian Muslims, the Islamic world’s fourth largest community after Indonesia and the South Asian…

Saudi Arabia and the West’s Right Wing: A Dubious Alliance

Saudi Arabia and the West’s Right Wing: A Dubious Alliance

Traditionally focussed on ultra-conservative Sunni Muslim Islam, Saudi funding in the era of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has been streamlined and finetuned to ensure that it serves his geopolitical ambitions, primarily stymying the expansion of Iranian influence in the Middle East and North Africa and enhancing the kingdom’s global impact. The effort, however, has…

Tehran Intends to Outplay Trump in Afghanistan

Tehran Intends to Outplay Trump in Afghanistan

The full-court press on Iran that President Donald Trump has put into play has not yet resulted in changes to Tehran’s regional strategy. Iran’s influence in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen is growing, and now Tehran intends to outplay Trump in Afghanistan.  Admiral Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (NSC), spoke in…

The US is at War with Iraq, Libya, Syria, Iran, Russia, All to Protect the Petrodollar

The US is at War with Iraq, Libya, Syria, Iran, Russia, All to Protect the Petrodollar

The US dollar currently makes up 2/3rds of the worlds global reserve currency. This is because nearly every oil-exporting country in the world exclusively sells their oil in US dollars (the Petrodollar), so nations are forced to hoard large amounts of US dollars, allowing the US to print it almost to infinity without hyper-inflating their currency. The…