Saudi attempts to play regional hegemon face tough resistance in Lebanon
Hezbollah’s resistance to Israel and criticism of the war in Yemen has infuriated Saudi Arabia which is now using its economic leverage to punish the common Lebanese people at a time when they are going through the worst crisis in the history of the country since the civil war
Fight against climate change in West Asia and North Africa hampered by wars and foreign intervention
Several countries in the region are facing prolonged droughts, increased desertification and phenomenal rise in temperature which is gradually turning the region inhabitable. Natural calamities also feed into existing conflicts.
With threats to foreign diplomats, Turkey’s Erdogan unleashes another distraction drive
Faced with an economy in doldrums and falling approval ratings, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has resorted to his usual tactic of indulging nationalistic rhetoric, this time against western ambassadors. Critics have called it an attempt to divert attention from pressing issues
Former US secretary of state Colin Powell leaves legacy of war crimes and lies
Post September 11, 2001, Powell, along with secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld and president George Bush Jr, was among the leading architects of the so-called global war on terror that killed almost a million people across the globe
Two months after Taliban’s takeover, Afghanistan teeters on the brink
Growing threats of violence, concerns about the future of women, price rise and lack of a concrete economic recovery plan haunt the people of Afghanistan two months after the Taliban’s takeover
Parliamentary elections will not address major concerns raised by popular protests in Iraq
The elections are taking place one year ahead of schedule following popular protests that broke out in October 2019 against the failure of successive governments to address the rising economic and political problems in the country
Guantanamo bay and the legacy of global “War on Terror”
The failure of the successive governments in the US to shut Gitmo in which the majority of the detainees, past and present, were never charged with any crime formally, even after spending years in prison and suffering inhuman acts of torture, exposes their complete disregard to human rights.
No end in sight to crisis in Lebanon despite new government
While a new government was formed in Lebanon this month, the country has gained no respite from the ongoing economic crisis. The new prime minister is seen as part of the existing political system, viewed as corrupt and inefficient