Author: Steven Sahiounie

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator Several thousand protesters have gone to the streets in Yerevan in the latest stage of a political crisis created by the aftermath of the armed conflict that erupted last year in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Moscow brokered a ceasefire agreement which saw significant territory handed over to Azerbaijan, but not before thousands were killed in six weeks of violence. To understand this devastating reversal for Armenians, Steven Sahiounie of MidEastDiscourse reached out to Garine Nazarian,  a Syrian-Armenian journalist specializing in Syrian and Armenian affairs.   Steven Sahiounie (SS): There was a coup attempt in Armenia.…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator President Joe Biden has disappointed human rights activists, journalists, and many in Congress who expected him to exact a punishment on Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman (MBS) in the gruesome murder of Jamal Khashoggi.  While sanctions were placed on 76 Saudi nationals as a result of the newly released report on the gruesome murder, the penalties did not name MBS personally.  Officials explained the need to end the war in Yemen, lower tensions in the Persian Gulf region, and ongoing counter-terrorism efforts as factors that held the administration back.  However, Biden has changed the…

The latest drop comes as the cryptocurrency has spiralled down over the past week, falling from its previous record-breaking gains observed in the first three weeks of February. Bitcoin has hit a 20-day low, sinking to $44,069.29 at 17:08 GMT, continuing its downward trend of the past week, according to trading data at CoinDesk. Since hitting its all-time high of $58,332.36 last week, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency has seen its value plunge nearly 24%. Earlier this week, US Treasury Secretary Yellen named bitcoin “an extremely inefficient way of conducting transactions”, slamming it as an “extremely volatile” and “highly speculative asset”…

Former President Donald Trump is the future of the Republican Party, his eldest son Donald Trump Jr. argued on Thursday. “If you’re reading the room and you’re intelligent, you realize that Donald Trump is still the future of the Republican Party,” Trump Jr. told “Hannity” ahead of his father’s weekend speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Trump Jr. insisted to host Sean Hannity that Republicans who support the 45th president are “following an America First agenda” to “fight for the hard-working men and women” in the United States. “Those people who are being displaced by illegals, those people…

Pentagon spokesman, John Kirby, said this weekend that during the American air strike on eastern Syria, 9 facilities were totally destroyed, while two other sites were partially destroyed. According to Kirby, “Two F-15s dropped 7 high-precision missiles, completely destroying 9 sites and partially destroying two others, rendering them unable to work.” He added, “The Pentagon has preliminary data on the victims,” ​​noting that “I cannot discuss additional details at this stage, because we are still evaluating the process.” According to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, “The United States launched a strike in Syria, relying on intelligence information from the Iraqi…

The Syrian Ministry of Oil announced that one of the country’s gas pipelines had been attacked in the countryside of Deir Ezzor, without specifying the nature of the attack. The ministry said that the Al-Jibsah Al-Rayyan gas pipeline was attacked in the Abu Khashab area in the countryside of Deir Ezzor. According to local reports, the gas pipeline was targeted by a hostile force, believed to be loyal to the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS/Daesh) terrorist organization. The Islamic State has conducted several attacks on Syria’s oil and gas fields over the last few years, with the primary target being the pipeline…

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein on Saturday will visit Iran to discuss the situation in the region and the effort to prevent rising tensions, the country’s foreign ministry said Friday. The foreign minister will visit Iran in the wake of airstrikes targeting infrastructure used by Iranian-backed militias in Syria near the Iraqi border. The Syrian Foreign Ministry already described US actions as “cowardly” and warned about possible escalation of tensions in the region. “The head of the foreign ministry, Fuad Hussein, will pay a one-day visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran on Saturday, where he will meet the country’s…

An American report, published on Friday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), accused Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of approving the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which Riyadh rejected. The United Arab Emirates supports Saudi Arabia’s position on the Khashoggi report, according to the Emirati state news agency WAM. The Emirati Foreign Ministry “expressed its confidence in and support for the Saudi judiciary rulings, which affirm the kingdom’s commitment to implementing the law in a transparent and impartial manner, and holding all those involved in this case accountable”, WAM said. The Saudi Foreign Ministry previously stressed that…

As uncertainty regarding the position of the US in the Middle East on Joe Biden’s Watch dominates, and amidst a string of recent Arab-Israeli peace deals, the Palestinian leadership is considering updating its alliance portfolio as a new region emerges. The Palestinian leadership are quietly reconsidering their place in the constellation of Middle Eastern geopolitics following a string of recent normalisation deals between a number of Arab governments and Israel, with an eye toward further warming relations with Syria and Russia, according to a member of the Palestinian Authority (PA). “After the recent deals between Israel and the Arab governments, we Palestinians…

The US intelligence report on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi says that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman approved the operation to capture or kill the Saudi journalist.”We assess that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi,” the report’s executive summary states.”We base this assessment on the Crown Prince’s control of decision-making in the Kingdom, the direct involvement of a key adviser and members of Muhammad bin Salman’s protective detail in the operation, and the Crown Prince’s support for using violent measures to silence dissidents abroad, including…