Joining the global protest fray: Islamists march on the Pakistani capital
Pakistan, long viewed as an
incubator of religious militancy, is gearing up for a battle over the future of
the country’s notorious madrassas, religious seminaries accused...
Turkey and China tie themselves in knots over Syria and Xinjiang
Turkey’s ambassador to China, Emin Onen, didn’t mince his words this
week when he took his Chinese
hosts to task for failing to support Turkey’s military...
Turkey and the Kurds: What goes around comes around
Turkey, like much of the Middle East, is discovering that what goes
around comes around.
Not only because President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears to have
miscalculated the...
Landing in Riyadh: Geopolitics work in Putin’s favour
When Russian President Vladimir Putin lands in Riyadh this week for the second time in 12 years, his
call for endorsement of his proposal to...
A self-inflicted wound: Trump surrenders the West’s moral high ground
For the better part of a
century, the United States could claim the moral high ground despite allegations
of hypocrisy because its policies continuously contradicted its...
Learning lessons: Protesters stay one step ahead of rulers
There’s a déjà vu feeling to this year’s wave of protests across the Arab world.
It’s not that this year saw the toppling of
the leaders...
Running hot and cold: Gulf balances on the edge of war and peace
With war and peace hanging in the balance,
tensions in the Gulf are running hot and cold.
Saudi and Iranian leaders are this week
walking back from...
Hints of Gulf rapprochement: Iranian tactics may be paying off
Fears of a potential military conflict with
Iran may have opened the door to a Saudi-Iranian dialogue against the backdrop
of a rethink of US military...
Saudi policy shift: A rare Trump foreign policy success
By the law of unintended consequences, US President Donald J. Trump’s
mix of uncritical and cynical embrace of Saudi Arabia and transactional
approach towards relations with...
Big power rivalry in the Gulf requires a US strategy rethink
As French, Pakistani and other leaders seek to engineer a meeting
between the US and Iranian presidents on the sidelines of the United Nations
General Assembly,...