Eastern [African] Exposure: Ethiopia, Ethnicity, and other Kindling for Tigray’s Backstory

Eastern [African] Exposure: Ethiopia, Ethnicity, and other Kindling for Tigray’s Backstory

There’s a whole mess of bloody messes around the world that few Americans care about. In fact, they could form a whole category of conflict labeled: “Top Ten Violent Hot Spots You’ve Never Heard Of (But Should Have).” The list might include, for starters, Nigeria’s resource war between herders and farmers (six times deadlier than…

Western Sahara Is Extremely Important For The Anti-Imperialist Cause

Western Sahara Is Extremely Important For The Anti-Imperialist Cause

Most folks never heard about Western Sahara until Trump unilaterally recognized Morocco’s claims to this disputed region of the Maghreb last week in exchange for it agreeing to a peace deal with “Israel”, but it’s actually extremely important for the anti-imperialist cause since its standing is similar to Palestine and Kashmir’s in the eyes of…

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia: Why Kashmir Won’t Stop Riyadh’s Rush to Embrace India

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia: Why Kashmir Won’t Stop Riyadh’s Rush to Embrace India

Pakistan’s government last month claimed a victory at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation annual summit in Niger, announcing that the 57-member Muslim bloc had supported a resolution condemning India over its rescinding of Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status. In a statement on the final day of the summit on 28 November, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said OIC states had agreed…

Will Joe Biden Push Iran and Pakistan Closer Together?

Will Joe Biden Push Iran and Pakistan Closer Together?

Political ties between Iran and Pakistan are warm, but their relationship has grossly underperformed in the economic and security domains. Shortly after Joe Biden’s win in the U.S. presidential election, Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif traveled to Islamabad for two days of talks. Political ties between Iran and Pakistan are warm, but their relationship has…

How Ertugrul Resurrected the Muslim Imagination

How Ertugrul Resurrected the Muslim Imagination

This piece contains spoilers for the TV series Dirilis: Ertugrul (Resurrection: Ertugrul). It was called Lion of the Desert. The film, funded by Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and directed by Moustapha Akkad, told the story of Omar Mukhtar, the legendary Libyan and Senussi revolutionary who fought against Italian colonialism during the early 20th century.  As…

Pakistan Made a Compelling Case That India Is a State Sponsor of Terrorism

Pakistan Made a Compelling Case That India Is a State Sponsor of Terrorism

Pakistan released a detailed dossier during a press conference on Saturday strongly making the case that India is a state sponsor of terrorism whose intelligence services have weaponized this phenomenon as part of the proxy war that they’re fighting with respect to the UNSC-recognized international Kashmir dispute and against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), with…