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There was a time, not so long ago, when the idea of Turkish troops placing their boots on non-Turkish soil was almost unthinkable. Turkey might bomb Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions in Iraq, Turkish aircraft might skirmish occasionally with Greek counterparts, but no one got their boots...
The radical-right Progress Party (FRP) withdrew from Norway's coalition government on January 20. This is a big defeat for FRP leader Siv Jensen, whose big ambition was to prove his party was koalitionsfähig, or "coalition capable." After six years in government, the conflict between the populist...
Cyberspace is a realm in dire need of global norms. Despite the growing number and staggering impact of cyberattacks — across both private and public sectors — cyberspace remains largely ungoverned. Most cyberattacks, like the technology they ride on, cut across borders, rendering national...
After more than a year of negotiations between US and Taliban representatives in Qatar, talks have now reached a critical point. The two sides are reportedly close to signing an agreement that will pave the way for intra-Afghan dialogue and the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan....
On December 24, 2019, The New York Times reported that Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper is weighing proposals for a major reduction — or even a complete pullout — of US forces from West Africa. This is the first phase of reviewing deployments that could reshuffle thousands of troops worldwide...
With a stroke of a pen, Donald Trump created an entirely new branch of the armed forces last year. It’s the first new branch of the US military since 1947. The Space Force is not exactly a new idea. It’s a revival of a Reagan-era initiative that had been set up to oversee missile defense,...
The dust has settled for the time being in the US-Iran duel. Retreating from the conflict, US President Donald Trump tweeted “all is well” in response to Iran’s retaliatory strikes on airbases in Iraq hosting US troops on January 8. Shortly after, he went back to his “go-to” deterrent of...
In an article with the title, “'Maybe we will, maybe we won't,” The Independent quotes US President Donald Trump’s latest boast made in an interview with Fox News commentator Laura Ingraham: “The only troops I have are taking the oil, they are protecting the oil.” It’s Time for...
It always seems to work here in America, no matter how many times it shouldn’t work and no matter how many times the only real outcome is more dead bodies. So, this time it was Trump’s turn. Run up the flag, kick off an armed conflict, send off the troops, wipe out the “enemy” to save...
In an article published by Fair Observer, political analyst Amin Farhad provides some much-needed clarity on the ambiguous situation concerning the US military presence in the Middle East after the strike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani on January 3. Although there has been a...
At his speech on January 8 following the Iranian missile attack on Iraqi bases hosting American forces, US President Donald Trump announced, with his usual tone of self-congratulation, that "Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for...
