Mohammed bin Zayed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, offered to set up a covert assassination programme targeting senior Taliban leaders during a meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier this year, Middle East Eye has learnt. Bin Zayed made the offer during Pompeo’s visit to the United Arab Emirates on 12 January…
Singapore, aiming high for the status of Asia’s unofficial capital, seems like the ideal venue for a conference to discuss how the Middle East could learn a few lessons from ASEAN’s multi-layered relations with China, especially involving partnership in the New Silk Roads, or Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). But first, let’s get things straight….
Pakistan’s promising economic potential, international connectivity capabilities, and unparalleled geostrategic location combine with its world-class military and proven diplomatic finesse over the decades to turn the South Asian country into the global pivot state of the 21st century. As astounding as it may sound to most observers, the global pivot state of the 21st century isn’t…
The Pope recently visited the UAE in what was the first time in history that a Catholic Pontiff set foot on the Arabian Peninsula, symbolically occurring in the context of an inter-religious conference hosted by the comparatively tolerant UAE. The Emirates wants to establish itself as a bastion of stability and interfaith harmony in the…
Pakistan is making important strides in its military and naval capacities with the help of China, relying less on US-made weaponry. Despite accepting money from all sides, Pakistan’s relationship with China continues to be strong. After the Trump administration decided to suspend $3 billion in security assistance to Pakistan, complaining that Islamabad fails to do…
A number of related stories describe nefarious activities by ‘former’ NSA, ‘former’ CIA, ‘former’ military officers who joined private businesses which harm other people. They demonstrate that there is a structural problem when those trained to be weapons are allowed to run in the wild. Reuters just published a two part story about ‘former’ NSA…
