Back when ISIS was in control of vast expanses of land in Iraq and Syria, there was no shortage of smaller militant groups willing to pledge allegiance to this terrorist quasi-state. In fact, the power of ISIS propaganda was so compelling that tens of thousands of people from across 80 nations around the world would…
The US and Israel are manoeuvring between the internal Iraqi differences in order to hit Hashd al-Shaabi, the “Popular Mobilisation Forces” (PMF). These forces have gathered significant domestic support and created many enemies among the Iraqis. The reason for this antipathy is the Iranian fingerprint within the PMF. Yet Iran is supposed to be close…
Iraq and Syria have decided to re-open the border-crossing between the two countries at albu Kamal – al Qaem, a vital move for the economic interests of both countries, with considerable benefits for the “Axis of the Resistance” (Iran, Iraq, Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon). Twenty-four hours before the opening was due, an attack occurred…
For two and a half years, the United States has pursued two contradictory and incompatible strategies. On the one hand, the destruction of state structures in large areas – the enlarged Middle East since 2001, then the Caribbean Basin since 2018 – supported by the Department of Defense (Rumsfeld / Cebrowski doctrine). On the other,…
While Afghans are supposed to be celebrating this week’s blood-soaked hundredth anniversary of their “independence” from Britain, signed off in the sweltering Raj military city of Rawalpindi in 1919, their most powerful militia is negotiating further “independence” from the Americans in an air-conditioned conference hall in Doha. A hundred years ago, “Pindi” was the British army’s…
In the 18th century, during the Crimean War, the Tsar was the first head of State to recognise the double political and spiritual nature of the role of the Caliphe. Constantinople had lost the military confrontation, but its Sultan had maintained an influence over the souls of the Tatar people. The sultans had auto-proclaimed themselves…
