It might be something of a hyperbole that his meeting with Sistani, laden with peaceful intent, reversed the jihad or crusade launched in 1095 by one of his earlier predecessors Pope Urban II.
Indo-Pak pirouette on Afghan talks: Will they be in step?
Americans are faced with an impossible task. They do not wish to be seen to be installing a Talib Emirate in Kabul. If identified with such action they may never look like harbingers of democracy, part of their manifest destiny.
New team in Washington surveys West Asia Trump leaves behind
At this moment of transition, what construct does one place on the outgoing Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo’s participation in the cloak-and-dagger meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu in the mega city of Neom being built on the Red Sea?
No intra Afghan talks unless Ghani steps aside
The fragility of the agreement is transparent in the pulls and counter pulls that have obviously gone into the headline. There is unbridgeable distance on the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s role, for instance. The Taliban will not talk to Ghani whom they describe quite brazenly as a US “toady”.
Links between Beirut blasts, UAE-Israel, Oil and Gas in East Mediterranean?
Who knows an oil and gas rich Israel may in the future be nice to a people it has been particularly nasty with: the Palestinians. The credit for affecting a change of heart will go to a GCC country which will, to that extent, have helped weaken the Iran-Nasrallah ticket in the region.
West Asia building upto a Turkey-Egypt catastrophe in Libya
Tayyip Erdogan who restarted “Namaz” at Hagia Sophia, has come out, all guns blazing as an unabashed Brother. His clash with Sisi, the oppressor or Brothers in Egypt, will cut the ground from under Sisi’s feet. That clash has to be avoided by forces which, alas, are these days preoccupied with issues of their own survival.
A faltering Erdogan falls back on Islamism for brownie points
After his mishandling of Syria, misreading of Europe, the US and Russia, his popularity in serious question, Erdogan has fallen back on the oldest trick in the politician’s book – religious extremism. “Look”, he will address Islamists, “like Mehmet, the conqueror, I have restored for your supplications a great mosque.”
Money Heist’s Bella Ciao is the anthem of new Maoism across the world
The Italian iconic folk tune - "Bella Ciao" - featured in the popular Netflix series La Casa de Papel aka Money Heist has once again been resuscitated as new 21st Century "resistance" anthem.
Did Italy’s luxury brands push the country into a public health disaster?
The Covid19 crisis is severely testing the economic model of Italy because workers are pointing out their existing condition as "new-slavery." Already rebellion inside the warehouses have begun. Will this sustain and metamorphose into a bigger rebellion against the “Confindustria”?