Canberra, 20 September 2016 Afghanistan has been teetering at the edge of a precipice ever since the US-led invasion of the country in 2001. The situation has become further precarious, if such a thing is possible at all, after the current President Ashraf Ghani took over the reins of government two years back. The embattled […]
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Tag Archives: United States
SAUDI ARABIA AND IRAN: DRAWING THE BATTLE LINES
January 20, 2016 
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Canberra, 20 January 2016 Ever since King Salman came to power in early 2015 and brought about sweeping changes in the hierarchy within the monarchy, the administration has been pursuing a more vigorous foreign policy than the one followed by the previous regime of King Abdullah. The focused objective has been to limit to the […]
Continue readingThe Middle-East: An Open Pandora’s Box
December 12, 2015 1 Comment
Singapore, 12 December 2015 Even before the discovery of the vast oil reserves in the region, the Middle-East had been the stomping ground of the global powers of the time. The past century has seen the region embroiled in convoluted conflicts that have simmered and altered shape, but have never really been brought to […]
Continue readingA METHOD TO MADNESS? TURKEY SHOOTS DOWN A RUSSIAN FIGHTER AIRCRAFT
December 2, 2015 2 Comments
Canberra, 2 December 2015 On Tuesday 23 November a Russian Air Force Su-24 Fencer ground attack aircraft was shot down by an AIM-120 AMRAAM missile fired by a Turkish Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon interceptor aircraft. The pilot was killed by ground fire after he and his navigator ejected successfully from the stricken aircraft […]
Continue readingTURKEY – AT A CRITICAL JUNCTURE
November 16, 2015 0 Comments
Canberra, 16 November 2015 The 2002 electoral victory of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi or AKP) was a turning point in modern Turkey’s political narrative. The relatively young leadership of the party, while subscribing to the secular basis of the Turkish Republic, was openly demonstrative of their devout Muslim identity and […]
Continue readingRUSSIA IN THE MIDDLE-EAST: ALTERING THE GEO-STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENT
October 22, 2015 1 Comment
Canberra, 22 October 2015 In the second half of September, Russia moved military forces predominated by air assets, into Bassel al-Assad international airport in the Latakia province of Syria. This deployment made it impossible for the anti-Assad forces to capture the province and also provided a logistics lifeline to the military forces of the Syrian […]
Continue readingYEMEN: WHO IS FIGHTING WHOM, AND WHY?
April 29, 2015 3 Comments
Canberra, 29 April 2015 All the nations of the Middle-East are now at war—against one another or against undefinable entities who are pursuing their own warped agenda—ruthlessly attempting to shore up lost prestige, struggling to retain power and influence, and to regain long lost command over the region. The rationale put forward is the necessity […]
Continue readingDECIPHERING THE FIGHT AGAINST THE ISLAMIC STATE Part II The US-led Coalition
November 18, 2014 2 Comments
Canberra, 18 November 2014 [This is the second part of a two-part series analysing the on-going conflict in the Middle East] Introduction The US-led coalition has been fighting the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria since offensive air operations were launched on 8 August. Aside from the Western nations, the coalition includes Saudi Arabia, […]
Continue readingDECIPHERING THE FIGHT AGAINST THE ISLAMIC STATE Part I: The Major Participants
November 18, 2014 1 Comment
Canberra 18 November 2014 [This is the first part of a two-part series analysing the on-going conflict in the Middle East] Introduction The world is continuing to look at the Islamic State (IS) as yet another, and admittedly more potent, terrorist or ‘jihadi’ network. This is a rather simplistic view since the current conflict in […]
Continue readingSYRIA—THE FORGOTTEN WAR
March 24, 2014 1 Comment
Canberra, 24 March 2014 The Civil War in Syria entered its fourth year last week, with not even the hope of an end in sight. After three years of bloodletting, there are no changes in the political landscape—Assad still remains in power and his troops have been more successful in holding back the rebels in […]
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Sanu Kainikara 
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