Category Archives: Analysis

The (interim) nuclear agreement that was signed on 24 November 2013 by Iran and the so-called P5+1 group in Geneva is questionable on a number of grounds. Continue reading →

The war of narratives shaped itself as a “slam dunk” win for the Palestinian people and had the potential to change the lineup of forces in the struggle for a just solution to the Middle East crisis. After all, unlike the Zionists, the Palestinians are a singular people, speak a common language, have common customs, and lived a shared history. They inhabited the area for centuries, if not for millennia, and tilled and watered the land to which they had legal title. Continue reading →

Chances are dim that elections will be held in Yemen next February. Yet without elections, the push for reforms and change that were inspired by the Yemeni revolution would become devoid of any real value. Yemenis might find themselves back on the street, repeating the original demands that echoed in the country’s many impoverished cities, streets and at every corner. Continue reading →

In the absence of a rational and well thought strategy, the “End Game” can be a total game changer in the political scene, leading to irremediable mistakes, the consequences of which can be extremely costly in the broad sense of the word. As a political analyst, I have reached the conclusion that any strategic action that does not plunge into the roots of strategic planning, and cannot visualize the ultimate impacts or the final outcomes of its actions is, in essence, a neglectful, inadequate and wrong strategy that will most probably lead to political disasters. Continue reading →

The three day nuclear negotiations between Iran and the so-called P5+1 group of world powers that started on November 7 came to an unsuccessful end when, apparently, France balked at the proposed interim deal as not sufficiently controlling Iran’s nuclear technology. Whether the French objected independently or as part of a good cop bad cop game to sabotage the proposed deal is of secondary importance. The more important point is that Western nuclear powers backed-off from their own demands and proposals despite the fact that they represented a number of significant one-sided concessions by the Iranian negotiators. Continue reading →

The United Nations reports a 50% increase in Afghan opium production, a record crop in 2013, and no end in sight for opium eradication. Continue reading →

To the Israelis, any deal made between the world powers and Iran would be a bad deal. Continue reading →

More than two years on since the “revolution” of Feb. 2011, the security crisis is exacerbating by the day threatening Libya with an implosion charged with potential real risks to the geopolitical unity of the Arab north African country, turning this crisis into a national existential one. Obviously the status quo is unsustainable. Continue reading →

It is no secret that the Egyptian military and the interim government feel betrayed by their country’s longtime ally, the US—a sentiment reflected vocally on the street and by the media. When the chips were down, the Barack Obama administration not only failed to support the will of the majority, but also implemented punitive measures in an attempt to impose its own. That was a gross miscalculation. The most populated Arab country is no errant teen to be deprived of his or her iPad nor a weak nation with no option but to accept punishment lying down. Continue reading →

Challenging the falsehoods and simplifications that surrounded the so-called Arab Spring from the very start doesn’t necessarily mean that one is in doubt of the very notion that genuine revolutions have indeed gripped various Arab countries for nearly three years. Continue reading →

The suffering endured by those forced to leave their home countries due to conflict or economic hardship is beyond the imagination of most of us. Continue reading →

Some Israelis are fond of comparing Israel’s displacement of Palestinians to the historical experience of North Americans in displacing indigenous people, but the comparison is inaccurate on almost every level. First, comparing events of two hundred years ago and today is misleading: norms of human rights and ethics and law have changed tremendously in that time. Besides, people all over the world see and read of such injustices today, something not possible at an earlier time. Continue reading →

Three forces in the United States are most aggressive in shaping reactions to the policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Each of these organizations has an agenda that prevents objective analysis. None of their contributions provide a clear definition of Iran’s position in the international battlefields or allow satisfactory appraisals of Iran’s role in Middle East civil disturbances and instabilities. After describing the limitations of each of these organizations in understanding Iran, an alternative viewpoint will be provided. Continue reading →

DOHA, Qatar—The warm waters of the Gulf look quiet from where I am sitting, but such tranquility hardly reflects the conflicts this region continues to generate. The euphoria of the so-called Arab Spring is long gone, but what remains is a region that is rich with resources and burdened with easily manipulated history that is in a state of reckless transition. No one can see what the future will look like, but the possibilities are ample, and possibly tragic. Continue reading →

According to Dave Ottoway, writing for the Foreign Policy Research Institute, “There is practically no civil society in Saudi Arabia. The country is run by the al-Saud royal family in partnership with a highly conservative religious establishment espousing a fundamentalist theology known as Wahhabism. Continue reading →

(WMR)—The annual UN General Assembly plenary session, held at the end of September, once featured world luminaries discussing real issues that affect real people. That is no longer the case. Now, amid the comings and goings of the limousines carrying vapid world leaders to and from the UN headquarters in Turtle Bay, are a series of star-studded dinners and seminars that have turned New York’s annual summit into an East Coast version of the Oscar Award ceremony complete with red carpets, stretch limos, and paparazzi. Continue reading →

A staff report prepared for Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and released last week finds numerous failings in the Accountability Review Board’s (ARB) report on Benghazi released last year. The new report overturns some of the conclusions of the official ARB report. It finds that Under Secretary of State Patrick Kennedy, who was not criticized in the ARB report, should have been held accountable. Continue reading →

The UN in Geneva has released its long-awaited report on the use of chemical weapons in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta on August 21. Continue reading →

Situated at the crossroads of several regional crises, including the Palestinian-Israeli and Iraqi conflicts, Jordan has been in the eye of the Syrian storm for more than thirty months, and managed to navigate safely so far, but the reportedly imminent US strike is pressuring the country between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the antagonists of the war on Syria. Continue reading →

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday, August 26, removed the sword of the alleged Syrian chemical weapons from its sheath and let the snowball of this subterfuge for a military aggression on Syria roll unchecked, raising the stakes from asking whether “it will happen” to “when” it will happen, promising that President Barak Obama “will be making an informed decision about how” to take on Syria and warning not to make a “mistake” because Obama “believes there must be accountability,” making clear that a U.S.-led military action is in the making and imminent. Continue reading →

Poorly-armed Islamist forces fighting against military forces armed with superior Russian weaponry. Government forces purposely killing its own citizens. Russia unwilling to back down from supporting its secular ally. Continue reading →

If President Barack Obama’s ill-conceived policy of “Responsibility to Protect” or R2P, sold to him by George Soros’s groupies Samantha Power, Susan Rice, and other advisers with their feet not completely planted on terra firma, was intended to bring stability to the Middle East, it has had the opposite effect. The recent military crackdown in Egypt by that nation’s military-led government is a case in point . . . Continue reading →

Considering the off-putting reality, one fails to imagine a future scenario in which Yemen could avoid a full-fledged conflict or a civil war. It is true that much could be done to fend off against this bleak scenario such as sincere efforts towards reconciliation and bold steps to achieve transparent democracy. There should be an unbending challenge to the ongoing undeclared US war in the impoverished nation. Continue reading →

The Obama Doctrine will eventually go down in the history books as a period during which the Obama administration honed the brute force military interventionism of his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush, into one that combined overt and covert U.S. military and intelligence intervention with election interference, trade sanctions, financial manipulation, and propaganda operations. This multi-faceted interventionism is known by the Pentagon as strategic influence operations. Continue reading →

For the last several years former CIA officer Philip Giraldi has been fearlessly reporting and writing on two no-no topics for the US government and its extension—the US media: Espionage and Illegal Arms Trafficking by Israel and Turkey, facilitated by a group of treasonous US officials. Despite Giraldi’s credentials as a former CIA operative, his extensive first-hand knowledge and experience, and no matter the amount of documentation and numerous well-established cases he presents, these alarming facts and trends always go ignored or intentionally blacked-out by the mainstream and pseudo alternative media alike. Continue reading →

The report in the British Telegraph (July 10) that Saudi Arabia is targeting Iran with ballistic missiles should not come as a surprise. Neither the Kingdom nor its patron, Washington, leaves matters related to the survivability and security of the ruling family to chance. Since February 14, 1945, when King Abdulaziz and President Franklin D. Roosevelt met on board the USS Quincy in the Great Bitter Lake of the Suez Canal, the security of the Kingdom has topped Washington’s list of foreign policy priorities. In return, the Kingdom has played a strategic role in molding events in the Arab World to serve Washington’s interests. Continue reading →

A fourth wave of the Egyptian revolution seems inevitable, until the revolution changes the regime or the regime emerges victorious, pending another revolution. Continue reading →

This month, Canada’s media solemnly related “the sad truth that the country engaged in a deliberate policy of attempted genocide against First Nations people,” referring to government-sponsored abuse of Native children a century ago, which Canada’s Chief Medical Officer Peter Bryce exposed in 1907, but which was hushed up. Bryce was fired and the post of chief medical officer abolished in 1919. Continue reading →

A new tactic by US Secretary of State John Kerry is causing a split within the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) ranks regarding further talks with Israel. Kerry is apparently using the Arab League’s Follow-Up Committee on the Arab Peace Initiative (FCAPI) to bully the Palestinians into accepting new ground rules for the talks to which they had objected in the past. Continue reading →