Author: Steven Sahiounie

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator Kazakastan descended into chaos and street violence on January 1.  What appears to be a popular uprising against the government has an organized crime network calling the shots from a central headquarters, according to officials. Almaty, the biggest and most prosperous Kazakh city, was turned into a war zone littered with dead bodies, burned buildings and incinerated cars. The government recently announced a sharp price hike in fuel prices, and the protests began afterwards.  The true source of the unrest has less to do with price increases than a power struggle of the loyalists…

The missiles were showcased a few days after the latest round of talks on the revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal kicked off in Vienna. The US State Department reportedly said that Iran should “add real urgency” to the negotiations or risk losing any chance of the accord being revived.Three Iranian short-range ballistic missiles have been put on display in central Tehran, with the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps describing them as already-known models.The showcase of the missiles, known as Dezful, Qiam, and Zolfaghar with official ranges of up to 1,000 kilometres (620 miles), come amid the ongoing Vienna…

The prominent Iranian general was killed in a drone strike ordered by then-US President Donald Trump on 3 January 2020. Tehran responded with a barrage of rockets aimed at Iraqi bases hosting American troops days later, but noted that it was only the beginning.Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, has warned that Iran will take “hard revenge” for the assassination of the previous head of the force, General Qassem Soleimani, and that the retribution will come “from within the US”. “We will prepare the ground for the hard revenge against the US…

Negotiations between Russia and the United States are scheduled to take place in the Swiss city of Geneva on 10 January, with talks between Moscow and NATO to follow on 12 January. The parties are set to discuss the tensions around Ukraine.The United States is ready to propose scaling back its troop deployment and military drills in Eastern Europe in the upcoming talks with Russia, NBC reported Friday, citing a current administration official and two former US national security officials familiar with the plans.According to the report, the Biden administration is considering suggesting that both the US and Russia address the scope…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator US-Russia talks in Geneva are to be held January 9-10. President Putin has presented issues to be discussed which are aimed to diffuse tensions over the Ukraine and Russian border situation. NATO has played a stronger role than the EU, and foreign ministers of the bloc will meet this week. Against this back-drop, the EU must face the fact that it is Washington and Moscow who are center stage in the political drama. Steven Sahiounie of MidEastDiscourse interviewed Leonid Savin for his take on the situation and to gain insight into the unfolding story.…

Wednesday, the Palestinian Prisoners Club (PPC) confirmed that the prisoner Nasser Abu Hamid (49 years old), who has cancer, has fallen unconscious since yesterday in the Israeli “Barzilai” Hospital. The Club said he is on ventilators due to inflammation in his lungs, and he is in a rapidly-escalating serious health condition. In a statement, the PPC confirmed a state of extreme tension in Askalan Prison after informing the prison’s administration that Abu Hamid’s health condition is critical. The statement affirmed that “the prison administration’s ‘slow murder’ policy through medical negligence of the sick is what brought Abu Hamid to this…

At dawn on Tuesday, the American occupation forces imposed a security cordon around the village of Al-Dashisha in the southern countryside of Al-Hasakah, and carried out an airdrop there, after which they raided a number of houses. Local sources told SANA reporter that the US occupation forces carried out an airdrop operation in the village of Al-Dashisha Al-Gharbiyye in the southern countryside of Hasaka, through four helicopters, a drone and a ground force accompanied by armed men from the QSD militia linked to the US occupation. The sources pointed out that the occupation forces and their gunmen surrounded the aforementioned…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator Christmas might be over for the western world, but it is never over in Bethlehem, Palestine, the birthplace of the global holiday. There were many years in which churches there were locked on Israeli military orders, and the European and American tourists were prevented from a pilgrimage to the birthplace of their religion, while their countrymen back home in places like Bethlehem, Pennsylvania were singing songs and most likely feeling completely unconnected to Palestine. The political conflict preventing peace and prosperity to Jews, Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land is still raging, and…

Massive Israeli airstrikes on Latakia, Syria Latakia: December 28, 2021: Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator reporting at the scene. The Israeli air force struck the port at Latakia at 3:21 am. today. This was the second Israeli attack this month at the main commercial port of Syria on the Mediterranean Sea. The attack today was massive, which inflicted heavy damage to the port infrastructure as well as massive loss of cargo containers full of civilian imports such as: cotton threads used in fabric factories of Aleppo, car tires, automobile parts, baby milk for pharmacies and many other commercial cargoes…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator The US is faced with a long list of hot-spots and tensions.  Beginning with the situation in Iraq, where the Parliament has asked the US troops to leave.  However, the US has refused a withdrawal, and instead has announced the 2,500 soldiers will be kept on the ground, but in a support mission, not combat. The tensions between the US and Russia are at the boiling point as Washington threatens, but President Putin replies, “We didn’t come to the US or UK borders, no, they came to ours,” he said recently. Presidents of the…