Tag Archives: US

The Day of Reckoning

Posted on June 15, 2020 by

June 15, 2020 The end of the Cold War raised hopes for a more peaceful and stable world with the “international community” collectively confronting global challenges. This proved a myth. After three decades, all we hear now is Cold War … Continue reading →

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Iran-US Confrontation with Iraq in the Middle

Posted on January 8, 2020 by

January 8, 2020 President Obama made his intention to engage Iran public in his landmark Cairo speech on June 4, 2009, well before the election of Hassan Rouhani. He said:  “…For many years, Iran has defined itself in part by … Continue reading →

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2019: The Year in Review

Posted on December 22, 2019 by

December 22, 2019 During the past year, climate change, corruption, street protests, polarization and disarray in the West dominated the global agenda. Frequent fires are part of California’s natural state but since the 1970s, the amount of area burned in … Continue reading →

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The Attack on Saudi Arabia’s Oil Facilities

Posted on October 7, 2019 by

October 7, 2019 Following the September 14 attack on two of Saudi Arabia’s major oil facilities, country’s leadership blamed Iran. US Secretary of State Pompeo tweeted, “Tehran is behind nearly 100 attacks on Saudi Arabia while Rouhani and Zarif pretend … Continue reading →

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Synopsis: Turkey’s Foreign Relations

Posted on February 16, 2016 by

February 16, 2016 This is an attempt to describe, as briefly as possible, state of Turkey’s foreign relations. US-Turkey: Exasperation. Russia-Turkey: For the optimist the word of choice could be “tension”, for the pessimist “enmity”. China-Turkey: Apprehension. NATO-Turkey: Mistrust. EU-Turkey: … Continue reading →

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Combatting ISIL Remains a Formidable Task

Posted on February 10, 2016 by

Co-authored with Yusuf Buluc (*) February 10, 2016 On February 4, 2016 Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri, an adviser to the Saudi Defense Minister and also spokesman for the Saudi-led Arab coalition in Yemen reportedly stated, during an interview, that the … Continue reading →

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US and Russia Need to Cooperate

Posted on May 31, 2015 by

31 May 2015 During his first visit to Moscow on 6-8 July 2009 President Obama tried to “reset” relations. Unfortunately for the international community this failed to materialize. Russians probably preferred to wait and see. The Arab Spring led to … Continue reading →

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Syria: Only More Trouble Ahead

Posted on May 25, 2015 by

25 May 2015 With Daesh controlling half of Syrian territory and the “Army of Conquest” consolidating its gains in the Idlib province and getting closer to regime’s bastion of Latakia, the Assad regime appears to be on the retreat. While … Continue reading →

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The Fall of Ramadi and Turkish Views From the Past…

Posted on May 21, 2015 by

21 May 2015 22 September 2015 will mark the 35th anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq-Iran war which lasted eight years. This was followed by Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and the First Gulf War. In 2003 … Continue reading →

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US-GCC Camp David Summit: An Overview

Posted on May 18, 2015 by

18 May 2015 US-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit meeting at Camp David ended with a Joint Statement and an Annex which contains additional detail on future avenues of cooperation. The Gulf States had four major expectations from the summit: • … Continue reading →

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