When You’re Wounded and Left on Afghanistan’s Plains: Part 3
So, the ongoing and depressing saga of the most incompetent Empire in human history continues. I have now lost track of the number of strategic failures that …
When You’re Wounded and Left on Afghanistan’s Plains Part 2
So, it’s ended for the US and NATO forces the same way that it’s ended for most foreign invaders ofAfghanistan. We’re leaving in defeat without …
Saudi Arabia Bans Flogging
The following article on the recent Saudi ban on flogging, as usual with all Western reporting about matters within the Kingdom, gets a few things wrong. …
An Examination of Barack Obama’s Pro-Shi’a and Pro-Iranian Middle Eastern Policies.
Looking back at the various policy choices made by the Obama administration I am struck by the fact that the main things that he did in the Middle East …
The Killing of Jamal Khashoggi
In reading all of the reports in the Western press concerning the killing of Jamal Khashoggi I have noticed one gaping hole in the analysis; and that has to do …
REQUIEM FOR A PRINCE
The arrest of Prince Waleed bin Talal bin Abdelaziz Al Sa’ud and several other princes in Saudi Arabia is a clear sign that the new Crown Prince Mohammed bin …
Shaking Down The Qataris
There are two key issues that lie at the heart of the recent attempt by the Saudis and the Emiratis to exert power over the State of Qatar. The principal one …
The Saudi Succession Redux
The recent change in the line of succession in Saudi Arabia took a number of observers by surprise but I understand that it had been carefully planned for some …
A Realignment of American Middle East Policy?
It was interesting to watch President Trump’s speech to the assembled notables of the Arab and Islamic world today. Besides the obvious climb down from his …
Plus ca change plus c’est la meme chose
Given the ongoing jihad that the Islamic State, Al Qaeda, Jamaat Al Islami, Jamiat Ahli Al Hadith and other Islamic organizations have declared against the …