A profound shift in geopolitical alliances is occurring which tends to undermine US hegemony in the broader Middle East Central Asian region as well as in South Asia. Several of America’s staunchest allies have “changed sides”. Both NATO and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are in crisis. Turkey and NATO NATO is characterized by profound divisions,…
Suddenly, the ideological matrix of all strands of Salafi-jihadism is being hailed by the West as a model of progress – because Saudi women will finally be allowed to drive. Only next year. Only some women. And still subject to many restrictions. What’s certain is that the timing of the announcement – which comes after years…
A blockade imposed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt entered its third month in August as negotiations to end it remained deadlocked. The comprehensive blockade cuts diplomatic relations between the countries, closes borders and land, air and sea routes, and even prohibits citizens of the boycotting nations from…
Since the 1928 Red Line Agreement between British and French and American oil majors to divide the oil riches of the post-World War I Middle East, petroleum or more precisely, control of petroleum has constituted the thin-red-line of modern geopolitics. During the Soviet time Russian oil exports were largely aimed at maximizing dollar hard currency…
Saudi Arabia came close to “conquering” Qatar, according to a recent email purportedly sent by the Emirati ambassador to the US, Yousef al-Otaiba. The claim came in a new batch of leaked emails, released online overnight on Wednesday, by an unknown party. In a May 2017 email thread with former US diplomat Elliot Abrams, Otaiba…
If North Korea conducted a missile strike against Guam, it could have had serious repercussions for the region, since the island hosts two of the most fortified US military installations in the Pacific, Sputnik contributor Andrei Kots writes, revealing what the most important US overseas military bases are. Pyongyang has fulfilled preparations for a missile strike…
