As ISIS is hammered on all fronts in Iraq and Syria and ceases to exist as a viable territorial and economic entity, joint counterterrorism operations could potentially be undermined and affect regional security with the reopening of the Iraqi Kurdistan question through an independence referendum to be held on September
The stability of the western Balkans, which since the Yugoslav wars has seen internecine ethnic separatist conflicts erupt in what used to be a harmonious multi-national and multi-confessional state, shows no signs of improving, particularly between the nominally neutral Serbia, the self-proclaimed state of Kosovo, and Albania. In addition, the
The successful subterranean test by North Korea of a hydrogen bomb, which they claim is capable of being mounted on to an intercontinental ballistic missile, though predictable, has raised alarm bells throughout the international community, particularly among the unified command centres in South Korea and Japan, which cannot operate independently
After weeks of chest thumping bombastic rhetoric, mutually exchanged threats of fire engulfing nuclear war by two egotistical leaders, the situation on the Korean peninsula appears to have returned to a normal, manageable state of hostility, which offers a glimmer of hope that the relevant parties will finally swallow their
As the war of words continues to escalate in the Middle East between rival global and regional powers, the simmering tensions between the U.S., its staunchest allies Israel and Saudi Arabia, and Iran, which has grown to be increasingly influential and prestigious as a trustworthy power broker in the Middle
Although the Minsk II Agreements have long been dead and buried after over two years of failed ceasefires, unfulfilled agreements, and sporadic fighting between the Kiev regime and the separatist Donbass region, U.S. and Russian officials continue to cling to the now defunct agreement in lieu of any other practical
With the ruling Polish conservative Law and Justice government at loggerheads with the overweening European Union, whose centres of power are Brussels and Berlin, another sensitive issue may very well split the already feuding Western and Eastern European members of the European Union. Poland along with Hungary have stubbornly resisted
All eyes in southeast Asia are firmly focused on the potentially cataclysmic confrontation between the U.S., its subordinate allies, a nuclear armed North Korea that claims to possess ICBMs capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, and military demonstrations of strength along the South and East China Seas. However, tensions among
President Donald Trump appears to be charting a coherent executive foreign policy that is the prerogative of every incumbent president, despite widespread opposition by the mainstream media, Congress, the Republican and Democratic establishments, and U.S. intelligence agencies, which have been at odds with President Trump since he proposed pragmatic cooperation
The long awaited meeting between the leaders of the world’s two preeminent nuclear-armed superpowers, Russia and the United States of America, has finally happened after a painstaking few months of collective western hysteria and fear at the mere possibility of it happening. By all accounts the G20 meeting on the
Syrian Democratic Forces and U.S. Coalition Forces tightened the noose around ISIS positions in Raqqa, Syria in the effort to counter jihadist attacks. However, the bombing campaign does not employ useful targeting strategies. This issue is also prevalent in other cities such as Deir ez-Zor, where civilians are experiencing a
The over 8-month-old campaign by the US-led coalition to liberate Mosul from ISIS has resulted in a rising civilian death toll due to indiscriminate airstrikes on residential areas. The final phase of the Euphrates Wrath operation to liberate Raqqa spearheaded by the US-backed Kurdish YPG has raised growing concerns among
The United States has established itself as the country with the highest incarceration rate. Its population accounts for 4.4 percent of people on earth, but its prisons hold 22 percent of the world’s prisoners. Since the surge of neoliberalism in the 1980s, the mass incarceration rate has increased exponentially primarily
