Month: December 2012

Afghanistan Under U.S. Occupation

There is nothing new in the opinion that has long been expressed regarding the similarity of the military action waged in Afghanistan, after the Soviet army entered the country on December 25, 1979, with the war waged by the U.S. Army in Vietnam. However this opinion leads us away from […]

Syria Will Resist Even After Assad

A Los-Angeles Times article begins with this sentence: “Now that a consensus is forming that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s days are numbered, diplomats and Middle East experts….” Aside from the psychological warfare value of mainstream Western media’s “days are numbered” mantra, this now hackneyed phrase which has been repeatedly refuted […]

For Whom the Syrian Bell Tolls

The top geopolitical tragedy in 2012 is bound to remain the top geopolitical tragedy in 2013: the rape of Syria. Just as once in a while I go back to my favorite Hemingway passages, lately I’ve been going back to some footage I shot years ago of the Aleppo souk […]

Arab Turmoil and Viability of Nation States

Protesting has been one of the most important trends of the past year. Alexander Knyazev, regional programmes coordinator for the Russian Institute of Oriental Studies, has been reflecting on the changes in the global geopolitical paradigm – a shift from a global game to the formation of regional political centres. […]

Syria: Apocalypse Cancelled

The situation around Syria has been eased the last days. The Americans are withdrawing the USS Eisenhower and USS Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Groups from the Eastern Mediterranean. President Obama expects this step would ‘ease the tension in the region’. What kind of tension has happened to be a matter […]

NATO Turns Up Heat in Syria Psy-War

NATO tells tales of recently launched “Scud missiles” to retroactively justify Patriot missile deployment months in the making. In a recent bid to psychologically break Syria’s government and military leadership, producing long sought-after defections, US-led NATO has decided to place Patriot missile systems along the Turkish-Syrian border. The announcement was […]