America’s top General Joseph Dunford this week announced plans for a US-led naval coalition to patrol the Persian Gulf in order to “protect shipping” from alleged Iranian sabotage. The move is but the latest in a series of efforts by the Trump administration to mobilize Arab allies into a more aggressive military stance towards Iran….
Turkey is taking delivery of Russia’s S 400 missile defence system. What this signifies is that Turkey and Russia are now “officially” allies. The first shipment of the S-400 landed in Ankara on July 12, according to Turkey’s Ministry of Defense. (see image below) Two more shipments are due, with the third delivery of “over 120 anti-aircraft missiles…
The recent arrival of Africa’s most popular televangelist preacher, TB Joshua, to address thousands of foreign pilgrims in Nazareth produced a mix of consternation and anger in the city of Jesus’s childhood. There was widespread opposition from Nazareth’s political movements, as well as from community groups and church leaders, who called for a boycott of…
President Trump’s senior aide on Mideast affairs Jared Kushner tried last week to sell his much-vaunted “deal of the century” for a Palestinian-Israeli peace settlement. The core of it was a purported foreign investment plan worth $50 billion. The sales pitch made at a conference in Bahrain amounted to a $50Bn bribe dangled at the…
Throughout my entire life I have heard American politicians in both major political parties and an array of media pundits tell me that Israel is our greatest ally and friend in the Middle East. The thing is, these people never explain why Israel is considered such a great ally and friend. They just ramble on…
Donald Trump’s supposed “deal of the century”, offering the Palestinians economic bribes in return for political submission, is the endgame of western peace-making, the real goal of which has been failure, not success. For decades, peace plans have made impossible demands of the Palestinians, forcing them to reject the terms on offer and thereby create…
