Author: Steven Sahiounie

The Syrian authorities plan to switch public transport and taxis from gasoline to natural gas amid an oil deficit in the country, the Al-Watan newspaper said. According to sources in the state-run fuel distribution company that spoke to the Al-Watan newspaper, the project was proposed even before the Syrian war broke out. A plan to introduce control over the consumption of gas and fuel oil by public transport and taxis using GPS tracking is also reportedly in the works. The goals of these two projects include the reduction of imports and demand for foreign currency, tracking smugglers and counterfeit oil products, as…

US Defence Secretary Mark Esper told reporters on Monday that he would need to speak with his Turkish defence counterparts in order to determine the gravity of recent remarks in Turkey regarding the possible closure of US and NATO bases. “I need to talk to my defence counterpart to understand what they really mean and how serious they are”, Esper told reporters as per a transcript posted by the Defence Department. The defence secretary went on to say that he would need to discuss with NATO allies the possibility of Turkey shutting down the Kurelik radar system, which is owned and…

Steven Sahiounie, political commentator Cyprus, ‘Israel’ and Egypt have all discovered offshore gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean, and they have each mapped out their own ‘Exclusive Economic Zone’ (EEZ), to protect their interests in developing lucrative projects. Although Turkey has no energy resources, they wish to explore the possibility. When the Arab Spring swept the region, Turkish President Erdogan decided to place all his bets on the Muslim Brotherhood, which turned out to be the loser; however, he remains firmly in allegiance to the radical ideology, and now reaches out to the Muslim Brotherhood government declared in Tripoli.  On…

The American Herald Tribune newspaper revealed that terrorist groups affiliated with Turkey stole a famous basalt lion statue from Ain Dara archeological site in Efrin area. The newspaper quoted local sources in Efrin as saying that the statue is no longer in its location in Ain Dara, which was corroborated by comparing aerial photos taken in 2018 and 2019, which show that the statue is indeed missing, and the only side that could have removed it are the militants affiliated with Turkey, as they are present in the area and the large statue could only have been moved from its…

Paul Antonopoulos, Research Fellow at the Center for Syncretic Studies The war in Afghanistan, the longest war in American history, is based on lies made by top U.S. officials and was “idiotic” as there was no clear plan, according to the documents published by the Washington Post, dubbed the ‘Afghanistan Papers.’ According to the papers, the U.S. has wasted nearly $1 trillion of taxpayers money in war against Afghanistan, with it expecting to cost trillions more. Effectively, it is the taxpayer’s money being wasted to maintain the war and occupation so that shareholders in U.S. military industries can profit while millions of…

Sarah Abed, independent journalist, analyst Over a century ago, the systematic mass extermination and expulsion of 1.5 million ethnic Armenians from the Ottoman Empire took place between 1914 and 1923 (some accounts state 1915-1922). For decades, Turkish and Israeli lobbies in Washington have successfully prevented the United States from recognizing the Armenian Genocide, despite thirty-one other nations having already done so. Last Thursday, the Senate unanimously passed S.Res.150 which officially commemorates the Armenian Genocide through recognition and remembrance. This was after three consecutive weeks of Washington recruiting three different Republican Senators to veto the resolution. In October, the House passed a similar resolution H.Res.296 affirming…

Turkey-backed terrorist groups continue to steal and plunder the property of local residents on the outskirts of the Kurdish town of Ra’s al-Ayn in the northeastern Syrian province of Hasakah, state media report. Syria’s official news agency SANA said on Monday that the groups stole the equipment of irrigation wells, fuel, and farming tools in the village of Tal Mohammad east of Ra’s al-Ayn. “The terrorists driving Turkish cars stormed dozens of houses and pillaged crops and furniture in a number of villages and towns in Ra’s al-Ayn countryside,” SANA said. Turkish ‘occupation’ forces, as SANA reported, were attempting to recruit young…

By Pepe Escobar This is arguably the ultimate road trip on earth. Marco Polo did it. All the legendary Silk Road explorers did it. Traveling the Pamir Highway back to back, as a harsh winter approaches, able to appreciate it in full, in silence and solitude, offers not only a historical plunge into the intricacies of the ancient Silk Road but a glimpse of what the future may bring in the form of the New Silk Roads. This is a trip steeped in magic ancient history. Tajiks trace their roots back to tribes of Sogdians, Bactrians and Parthians. Indo-Iranians lived in…

A series of hostile moves between the United States and Turkey began after Ankara’s purchase of Russian S-400 air defence systems and the country’s operation in northern Syria. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stated that Ankara could seek to shut down the Incirlik airbase if the US were to move forward with imposing sanctions against Turkey. “It is important for both sides that the US does not take irrevocable measures… Turkey will, of course, respond to any US sanctions. If needed, we will close both Incirlik and Kurecik”, he said. Prior to this, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, in…

BY RANIA KHALEK The US is desperate to ride the revolutionary wave in Lebanon, hoping it can fracture a governing coalition that includes Hezbollah, a top target of the Trump administration and its friends from Tel Aviv to Riyadh. To this end, political figures Washington has cultivated and parties the US backs have penetrated the protest movement that has swept the country and are now on the frontlines of blockades obstructing roads around the country. In the first part of this report, I surveyed the role of the US in weaponizing NGO’s and civil society activists to co-opt the nationwide anti-corruption protests.…