France’s recent flurry of diplomacy in Damascus, Baghdad and Erbil has prompted commentary suggesting a potential move toward the country’s “lasting presence” in Syria. On February 5, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot visited Damascus, Baghdad and Erbil in a day. Especially Barrot’s meetings with Kurdistan Regional Government President Nechirvan Barzani and PKK/YPG leader Mazlum Abdi were interpreted as France exploring ...
While the world’s attention has been focused on the riots in Iran, in the recent weeks, as a result of the propaganda tsunami of the major global media outlets, the Iranian military forces conducted a major missile operation in the western region of the country. Since the last week of September, the IRGC carried out a series of missile attack ...
By Ted Galen Carpenter* Acute tensions over Taiwan and Ukraine have largely eclipsed another troubling international news story. A nasty confrontation has developed in recent months between Belarus and NATO members Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia over Alexander Lukashenko’s campaign to encourage and assist Middle Eastern refugees to seek asylum in those neighboring countries. Lukashenko’s motive is to put pressure on ...