Prince Ahmad bin Abdulaziz, the younger brother of King Salman, has returned to Saudi Arabia after a prolonged absence in London, to mount a challenge to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman or find someone who can. The septuagenarian prince, an open critic of bin Salman (MbS), has travelled with security guarantees given by US and UK officials….
Not for the first time the Turkish army has attacked U.S.-backed forces in northeastern Syria on Sunday in yet another absurd contradiction of American policy in the region. It highlights the awkward fact that in northern Syria for over the past year one NATO country (Turkey) is at war with another NATO country’s proxy force, namely the Pentagon…
A fascinating FT article suggests Western intelligence agencies have now dumped Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman after he’s been personally accused by world leaders — foremost among them Turkey’s President Erdogan and US President Trump — for ordering the brutal murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Implicit in the article, rich with quotes from current and former US…
Stalin said that the death of one man is a tragedy, the death of a million a statistic. And the death of one man, Khashoggi, at the hand of Saudi assassins in Turkey has reinforced that axiom. One man’s death has set the whole complex Middle Eastern political vortex spinning. The first effect of his…
The four-nation Turkey-Russia-Germany-France summit on Syria on October 27 in Istanbul had an impressive outcome. All participants – each with own interests – has some ‘takeaway’ from the summit, which itself is a measure of the success of the event. This is also important because the participants now have a reason to work together. Such…
The Russia-Turkey-Germany-France summit in Istanbul on October 27 is an extraordinary affair. The Kremlin has been deploying a wily strategy, downplaying the summit as just “comparing notes”, and not a breakthrough. Yet Istanbul is a de facto breakthrough in itself – on superimposed layers. It signals the top two EU powers acquiescing that Russia is in…
