Author: Steven Sahiounie

The three mediators of the Astana peace process on Syria — Russia, Turkey and Iran — have expressed their concerns about the presence of Takfiri terrorist groups in Idlib, underlining the need for the restoration of peace to the northwestern Syrian province, which is the last main militant bastion in the Arab state. “The parties have reiterated their commitment in re-establishing calm in Idlib and in preserving the de-escalation status of the area,” the trio said in a joint statement released on Wednesday after the 14th round of the Astana talks in the Kazak capital, Nur-Sultan. Idlib remains the only large area in the hands…

Last week, The Telegraph reported that Saudi Arabia burnt off thousands of barrels per day of gas that could be commercialised. The newspaper suggested that the kingdom had therefore every reason to strike a “gas deal of the century” with Qatar and in doing so, patch up bilateral political differences. Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman Al Saud has rejected media reports about a possible “gas deal of the century” with Qatar, saying that the kingdom has its own resources and projects with Russia. “We have plenty of gas in Saudi Arabia. We will be impressing upon the world…

Last month, Yemen’s Houthi militia claimed that they had shot down a Saudi-led coalition F-15 fighter jet, without clarifying which coalition country the plane belonged to. Yahya Sarea, a spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi movement, was cited by Reuters as saying on Wednesday that the group had downed a US-made drone near the Saudi border. Sarea claimed that the ScanEagle was shot down as it flew over Saudi Arabia’s southwestern border region of Najran, gathering intelligence. The reported downing comes a few weeks after the Houthi militia wrote in a tweet cited by Reuters that their “air defence systems had intercepted…

By Ulson Gunnar The collapse of an entire nation is as spectacular as it is rare. For a nation to simply cease to exist it must suffer such absolute defeat across the entire spectrum of what constitutes a nation; economically, militarily, culturally, socially and politically. What is much more common is a transition from existing, prevailing socioeconomic, political and military orders to new ones driven by new, emerging special interests. It can happen quickly and violently, or take place as a long-term process with ups and downs and both constructive and destructive processes intertwining. For the United States, a massive nation…

The international struggle for military supremacy in the Arctic has just risen to absurd new heights. Following the collapse of the arms control regime that for decades aided the US’s tenuous grip on power in the region, the US, Russia and China are now engaged in a winner-takes-all struggle for control of territory north of the Arctic Circle. And as Russia moves to defend its territory (Russia and Canada have the most territory inside the Arctic Circle), the Russian army is reportedly preparing to upgrade the equipment on the anti-aircraft regiment of its Northern Fleet with its new state-of-the-art S-400…

By Andrew Korybko The US’ new stance on “Israeli” settlements is condemnable from both the legal and ethical standpoints, but it doesn’t change the reality that Tel Aviv’s colonial policy won’t be curtailed unless the international community summons the political will to impose real costs upon the self-professed “Jewish State”, which doesn’t appear likely anytime soon. There’s been near-universal outrage all across the globe except from “Israel” and some of Trump’s supporters over the US’ new stance on “Israeli” settlements after Pompeo declared last month that his government now believes that “the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not,…

By Andre Vltchek In 2019, I have written a long analysis about “the Uyghur issue”; analysis which will be soon published as a book. For some time, I have been warning the world that the West, and the United States in particular, are helping to radicalize the Uyghurs in Xinjiang Province and outside. And not only that: I clearly mapped movement of the Uyghur radicals through some countries like Indonesia, towards Turkey, from where they are then injected into brutal war zones like Idlib in Syria. I worked in Idlib area, with the Syrian commanders, and I spoke at length with…

Two civilians were killed and another two were injured in shelling in the Minyan area in the Syrian city of Aleppo, Major General Yuri Borenkov, the head of the Defence Ministry’s Reconciliation Center in Syria, said on Tuesday. “As a result of mortar shelling of the Minyan area of ​​Aleppo city, two civilians were killed and two more people were injured”, Borenkov said. He also said that the Russian military police continued to patrol the routes in the provinces of Aleppo, Hasakah and Raqqa. Following talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a Russian-Turkish memorandum, which stipulates…

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted on 7 December that Iran and the United States were conducting an exchange of US-held Iranian scientist Massoud Soleimani and Chinese-American Xiyue Wang detained in Iran. Tehran is ready for a prisoner exchange, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted on 9 December, adding that “the ball is in the US’ court”. ​Government spokesman Ali Rabiei said at a briefing earlier in the day that Iran is ready to exchange more prisoners with the United States following the successful swap last week, with the goal of eventually exchanging all prisoners in the countries…

The factions in the Iraqi parliament agreed on Monday on the candidacy of the future prime minister, lawmaker Nahida Diani stated. “Political factions have chosen several candidates for the post of prime minister. I have information that an agreement has been reached on the candidacy of the head of government, but so far the name of the candidate has not been revealed”, Diani said. Although the name of the person has not been revealed, it is known that he was not part of previous governments. It is expected that his candidacy will satisfy the “street” amid mass anti-government protests nationwide.…