Author: Steven Sahiounie

Iranian Foreign Minister Amirabdollahian revealed to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that Iran prioritizes centering its foreign policy on Asia. In a phone call with China’s Foreign Minister, Abdollahian expressed that “Iran aspires to establish complete ties with China,” adding that his nation confirms its commitment to implementing the strategic cooperation agreement for a 25-year term. Yi for his part stated that China’s orientation is On his end, Yi divulged that China is oriented around the comprehensive development of bilateral relations, emphasizing that any change or obstacle at the international level cannot disrupt the permanent relations between the two countries.…

Nearly four days after the full US withdrawal from Afghanistan, local Afghan sources confirmed that an Emirati airplane has landed at Kabul airport. The sources added that two military planes would arrive at a later time, while the Russian news agency Novosti quoted an additional source disclosing that “the Emirati delegation that arrived in Afghanistan will hold talks with the Taliban.” The United Nations (UN) has recently warned of a looming humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan as Pakistan’s ambassador to Russia Shawqat Ali Khan has lately indicated that approximately four million Afghan refugees have fled to Pakistan. The top Afghan diplomat stressed that…

President Vladimir Putin of Russia described the developments in Afghanistan after US withdrawal as a “humanitarian catastrophe.” In the 6th Eastern Economic Forum, Putin noted that the Soviet forces left Afghanistan in orderly conduct, stressing that the regime was still standing for several years after the Soviet withdrawal. “Democracy cannot be imposed on a nation through violent methods. If people need democracy, they will eventually achieve it,” he said. The Russian leader concluded by saying despite the lessons learned from Afghanistan, the policy of imposing foreign standards continues in other countries. Peace Deal with Japan President Putin stressed the need…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator After the chaotic exit from Afghanistan, many experts predict the withdrawal of US troops will next be from Iraq and Syria. US President Joe Biden has said the US is no longer in the ‘nation-building’ business abroad.  George W. Bush sold the US Congress and the UK on forcing democracy down the throat of the Iraqi people, who had no experience with democracy.  After years of bloodshed, and millions of Iraqi lives lost, democracy was never established, at least not a democracy any American would recognize.  Instead of establishing a secular form of government,…

According to the New York Times, The US has entered the fourth or fifth wave of the pandemic. As vaccination lags and the Delta variant form is spreading, the largest number of infections and hospitalizations since last winter is on the horizon. The deaths of COVID-19 are also at a steady tilt. In the United States, scientists examine the experience of the UK and India to better understand the reason why the Delta variant spreads again; they anticipate the forthcoming scenarios in the United States. In the UK, daily cases fell from 60,000 in mid-July to half that number within two…

The US space agency “NASA” launches the “Ingenuity” helicopter over Mars. If the mission succeeds, it would mark the first flight of a remote-controlled, powered helicopter to a planet other than Earth. This mission was scheduled for April 11 but was rescheduled after a flaw appeared that forced engineers to do more checks before relaunching the flight and resolving a problem in the chain of command. The helicopter reached the Jezero crater on Mars on February 18 and is connected to the belly of the probe with NASA’s Perseverance. It should be noted, that the helicopter is a demonstration of…

Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said Monday that the company is planning on launching several audio services, including live audio rooms similar to those of Clubhouse, in addition to a way for users to listen to podcasts. Clubhouse is an audio app used by the upper class and celebrities, including Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk. Zuckerberg said that Facebook is going to lay down at least three audio bets over the next three to six months, one of which is Soundbites, which are a form of short audio media, in addition to putting forward ways to produce sound effects or…

Economic experts expect that the growth rate in India to pick up in the second half of this year. However, the damage caused by the corona epidemic could take several years to wear off, as reported by the New York Times. According to the Indian credit rating agency, economic results were 9.2 percent lower in the April to June period of the current year than in 2019 before the outbreak of the pandemic. Millions have lost their jobs since then. This year has seen improvements over last year’s lockdowns, with gross domestic product rising by 20 percent from April to June…

As the Taliban continue assuming further control over Afghanistan, the group paraded military equipment it seized from the United States in Kandahar, the Taliban’s birthplace. The Taliban appeared to be flying a US Black Hawk helicopter over the southern province while its militants stood on seized Humvees. This parade comes as part of a victory tour the Taliban was conducting after the US completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan. Afghan media revealed that the Taliban has been making progress against the militants in Panjshir. Previously, the Taliban had reached a peace agreement to enter Panjshir without combat—the only province the movement…

Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani affirmed his country’s cooperation with the “Taliban” Movement to resume work in Hamed Karzai International Airport in the Afghan capital, Kabul. The Foreign Minister noted in a joint press conference he held with his British counterpart Dominic Raab that his country was working with Turkey to reopen the airport, adding that “there is no clear indication when (the airport) is going to be fully operational yet… We remain hopeful that we will be able to operate it as soon as possible.” Russia’s Novosti agency had already confirmed the arrival of experts from Qatar and Turkey…