John Helmer: As Merkel and the EU Look Wobbly and Obama’s Syrian Misadventure Misfires, Will Putin Be the Last Man Standing?
How has Putin managed to survive, and even arguably prosper from, a US/EU assault on his leadership?
Read more...Category Archives: Middle East
The End of the President Erdogan’s AKP Era in Turkey? – Part I
The state of play in Turkey before the November 1 election.
Read more...Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Special Operations ‘Successes’ Around the World
To quote Andrew Bacevich: “There is no doubt that U.S. Special Operations forces are hard at it in lots of different places. It does not follow that they are thereby actually accomplishing anything meaningful.’”
Read more...What Could Possibly Go Wrong (Next) in the Middle East?
A look at the wreckage the US has created in the Middle East, and an assessment of the prospects.
Read more...Tom Engelhardt: The Fog of Intelligence, or How to Be Eternally ‘Caught Off Guard’ in the Greater Middle East
An in-depth look at the US’s big-ticket intelligence apparatus that can’t shoot straight in the Middle East. A bug or a feature?
Read more...Andrew Bacevich: On Building Foreign Armies and Watching Them Fail
How the US persists in trying to build foreign armies that fail again and again.
Read more...Russia’s Move In Syria Threatens Energy Deals With Turkey
Will the Turkish Stream project be a casualty of Putin’s bold moves in Syria?
Read more...John Helmer: US Strategy In The Middle East Is Dying, Along With Its Authors, Carter And Brzezinski; Putin, Al-Assad Get To Dance On Their Graves, David Ben-Gurion Too
US experts try to claim the Russians are vulnerable in the Middle East as the window for US intervention closes. A German military analyst: “The Red Army is invigorated to a level that has never been fielded on the Middle Eastern map.”
Read more...Could The Syrian Conflict Irrevocably Change Global Geopolitics?
A concise, high-level overview of the main issues at play in the Syrian conflict.
Read more...Is Russia Plotting To Bring Down OPEC?
Can Russia succeed in creating an anti-Saudi bloc to split OPEC by taking advantage of having oil supplies less vulnerable to transit risk?
Read more...Michael Hudson: Obama Re-Defines Democracy – A Country that Supports U.S. Policy
Obama has decided to use “democracy” as a weapon of coups to turn recalcitrant countries into failed states.
Read more...Debacle, Inc.: How Henry Kissinger Helped Create Our ‘Proliferated’ World
If all Henry Kissinger contributed to the Middle East were a regional arms race, petrodollar addiction, Iranian radicalization, and the Tehran-Riyadh conflict, it would be bad enough. His legacy, however, is far worse than that: he has to answer for his role in the rise of political Islam.
Read more...Ilargi: Europe’s Refugees Are a Global Crisis
European leaders are still in denial about the seriousness of the refugee crisis and are focused on what amount to stopgap measure.
Read more...Imperial Overreach: U.S. Special Ops Forces Deployed in 135 Nations
The US has special ops missions in 70% of the countries in the world,, more than at the height of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Read more...Iran Deal May Redefine The Middle East
A detailed discussion of how the US-Iran nuclear agreement is leading to considerable changes in alliances and priorities in the Middle East.
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