Author: Steven Sahiounie

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator Jordan played host to the newest regional meeting on the road to the reinstatement of Syria as a member of the Arab world. Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi met privately with Syria’s Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad in Amman on May 1, before the larger group meeting which included foreign ministers of Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. Jordan has put forth an initiative to reach a political solution to the Syrian crisis which began in 2011, and was a US-NATO attack on Syria for regime change. The plan failed but was supported by…

Nikolay Patrushev noted that “entire thinktanks in the United States and Europe are working tirelessly to create the most insane pseudoscientific theories” The purpose of the West’s psychological pressure on Russians is to demoralize them and divide the country, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev has told the daily Izvestia in an interview. “The West is trying to undermine the internal unity of our country and people, to demoralize our citizens, and to instill in them a sense of inferiority,” he pointed out. Patrushev noted that “entire thinktanks in the United States and Europe are working tirelessly to create the most insane…

Foreign and Expatriates Ministry said on Tuesday that the Israeli aggression on Aleppo international Airport yesterday comes within a series of attacks on civilian and vital utilities including Damascus international airport, Lattakia commercial port, other scientific and culture centers. “Those Israeli hostile policies are nothing but disparate attempts to shuffle cards of the region and confuse the diplomatic current movement, this movement which aims to restore security and stability to the region,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The statement added that Syria condemns, in the strongest terms, the Israeli latest aggression and warns of the continuation of perpetrating…

Yellen further warns that the US could run out of money. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned on Monday that the US is threatened by a debt default as soon as the start of June, as lawmakers struggle over raising the borrowing limit.  In a letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Yellen said, “Our best estimate is that we will be unable to continue to satisfy all of the government’s obligations by early June, and potentially as early as June 1, if Congress does not raise or suspend the debt limit before that time.” Yellen also said the US could run out…

Those stranded in Sudan from the countries of Yemen, Syria and Nigeria appealed for the need to intervene to evacuate them from the capital Khartoum and Port Sudan, which are witnessing a large exodus of people fleeing the ongoing clashes in the country. The stranded have launched appeals on social media platforms for their transfer to Saudi Arabia on the other side of the Red Sea. Students and members of volunteer committees to organize the evacuation of the stranded documented the situation of scholarship students and the Yemeni, Syrian and Nigerian communities in the city. The filmed scenes showed the…

Hurriyet states that “both of the candidates been on the rise in the past 10 days”, indicating that expectations come from the fact that a second round is bound to take place.  According to a poll conducted by the Optimar research center, and cited by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took 51.4% of the votes, while his rival candidate of the opposition Kemal Kilicdaroglu, got 48.6%. In the survey of 3,005 people, conducted from April 25 to 28, the participants were asked: “Which of the candidates will you vote for in the presidential elections?” Even a poll conducted…

Dmitry Peskov recalled that the agreement was extended for two months, adding that this is “an absolutely timed decision,” with Russia’s “well-known” requirements Contacts on the grain deal continue, but have yielded no results thus far, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday. He did not go into detail about any future negotiations on the initiative, which expires on May 18. “I can’t tell you anything specific about [their] level, location, or time. Contacts continue, but they haven’t yielded any results so far,” he said. Peskov recalled that the agreement was extended for two months, adding that this…

The agreement is valued at between $1 billion and $1.2 billion. The United Arab Emirates’ ADNOC Gas announced on Monday a $1 billion deal to provide liquefied natural gas to France’s TotalEnergies as Europe seeks to find alternatives to Russian energy sources. In a statement, ADNOC Gas indicated that the liquefied natural gas (LNG) provided under the three-year supply deal “will be delivered to various export markets around the world.” The agreement is valued at between $1 billion and $1.2 billion, the statement highlighted, without elaborating on the quantities involved. The deal was signed with TotalEnergies Gas and Power Limited,…

The ministry expressed its indignation at the lack of any probe into the incident Moscow intends to press on with its efforts to identify and punish all those responsible for the 2014 Odessa tragedy, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on its Telegram channel on Tuesday. “May 2 marks the 9th anniversary of the tragic events in Odessa, which culminated in the chilling murders at the Trade Unions House. On that day [nine years ago], radical Ukrainian nationalists deliberately set fire to the building where those opposed to the new government were hiding. As a result, 48 people were burned alive,…

The banking giant announced the buyout after it won an auction to acquire First Republic over the weekend. Moments after the announcement that JPMorgan Chase acquired First Republic Bank was made, JPMorgan Chase CEO and billionaire Jamie Dimon told analysts that the present banking crisis was over.  “There are only so many banks that were offsides this way,” Dimon told analysts in a call after the acquisition was announced on Monday. “There may be another smaller one, but this pretty much resolves them all,” Dimon said. “This part of the crisis is over.” The banking giant announced the buyout after it won an auction…