How a Subtle Turkey-Iran Entente is Helping Iran Secure a Firm Presence in Syria

18 Apr 202018 Apr 2020

Posted originally to MintPress News on 24 February 2020 as Part 3 of a 3 Part series on the evolved geopolitical scenario in Syria. In stark contrast to their positions…

Russia and Iran’s Clashing Visions for Syria’s Future

18 Apr 202016 Nov 2020

Posted originally to MintPress News on 7 February 2020 as part of a 3-Part series on the evolved geopolitical scenario in Syria. Rivals of the West in their own right,…

Wealthy Gulf States Plan to Spend Big to Coax Syria Away from Iran

18 Apr 202029 Jun 2020

Posted originally to MintPress News on 31 January 2020 as Part 1 of a 3-Part Series on the evolved geopolitical scenario in Syria. Since the dawn of the 2011 Syrian…

Erdogan’s Idlib misadventure: Reality checks and hard lessons for Turkey

3 Apr 202018 Apr 2020

Posted originally to MintPress News on 3 April 2020. Even when viewed through the prism of Turkish interests, President Tayyib Erdogan’s escalatory actions in Syria’s Idlib governorate constitute now plainly…

The New Contours of the Power Struggle for Syria’s Future – Three Part Series for MintPress News

3 Mar 202013 Mar 2020

Part one: Wealthy Gulf States Plan Big To Coax Syria Away from Iran Part two: Russia and Iran's Clashing Views for Syria's Future Part three: How a Subtle Turkey-Iran Entente…

Lessons in tenacity: Why Pakistan should learn from Turkey

4 Jan 202017 Jan 2020

Posted originally to The Express Tribune on 4 January 2020. When faced with the seemingly unyielding support of its ostensible NATO ‘partners’ for Kurdish secessionists in the Syrian-Turkish border regions,…

The Israel Lobby’s Hidden Hand in the Theft of Iraqi and Syrian Oil

11 Dec 20199 Jun 2020

By Agha Hussain and Whitney Webb, for MintPress News, posted on 10 December 2019. KIRKUK, IRAQ — “We want to bring our soldiers home. But we did leave soldiers because we’re…

The falsehood that is the ‘Persian-Arab conflict’ narrative

2 Nov 201918 Nov 2019

Posted originally to The Express Tribune Blogs on 2 November 2019. Discredited and archaic explanatory frameworks are superposed onto geopolitical conflicts and rivalries at the expense of accurate appraisal of…

How Russia’s vision for the Middle East is rigged against Iran

22 Oct 201924 Feb 2020

Posted originally to American Herald Tribune on 22 October 2019. Stanislav Ivanov writing for the prestigious Russian state-run Valdai Club recently described ‘Israel and most of the Arab countries’ as…

Netanyahu’s Election Loss: Reasons and Regional Consequences

22 Oct 201925 Oct 2019

Posted originally as an issue brief to Islamabad Policy Institute on 19 September 2019. Benjamin Netanyahu’s 10-year continuous stint at Israeli Prime Minister is coming to an end, with his…