Israel’s Iron Dome missile shield (File photo) For more than one reason, the US President Joe Biden’s call with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday is hugely consequential. This has been Biden’s second phone conversation with Bennett in four weeks. On March 30 Biden called to express his “deepest condolences” following the terrorist attacks …
Iran-backed Houthi is the winner in Yemen
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (R) received Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council , Riyadh, April 7, 2022 These are early days and Yemen has witnessed many a ceasefire in its tortuous civil war that began in September 2014 when Houthi forces took over the capital city Sanaa, which was followed by a rapid Houthi takeover of …
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US resets the containment of Iran
The summit of Arab diplomats on March 27-28 hosted by Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid in the southern Negev Desert is doubtless a landmark event. The UAE’s Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Bahrain’s Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, Morocco’s Nasser Bourita, and Egypt’s Sameh Shoukry are the Arab participants, while the visiting US Secretary of State …
US to remove IRGC from terror blacklist
Axios reported earlier this week citing Israeli officials and US sources that the Biden administration is considering the removal of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC] from its terror blacklist, in return for a ‘public commitment from Tehran to de-escalation in the region.’ It is improbable that Tehran will give any such ‘public commitment’. But, …
As UAE embraces Iran, fizz goes pop for Abraham Accords
Iran’s Dy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani (C) with diplomatic adviser to UAE President Anwar Gargash (L) and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Khalifa Almara, Abu Dhabi, Nov. 16, 2021 The terrible secret about Faustian deals is that they need a Mephistopheles to nurture them. That said, Goethe’s Mephisto is very different from the …
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A superbloom in Turkish-UAE ties
UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan (L) met with Turkish President Recep Erdogan in Ankara on Nov. 24, 2021 A new vector of immense geopolitical possibilities surged in “post-coronavirus” West Asia with the visit of the UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan to Ankara and his meeting with President …
Reflections on Events in Afghanistan-35
Visiting high-level Iranian officials (L) and Taliban authorities chaired by Deputy Acting Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar (C) discussed institutional underpinnings of Iran-Afghan cooperation, Kabul, November 15, 2021 35. Taliban government is steadily consolidating The acknowledgement of “shared interests” with Russia regarding Afghanistan by the new US Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West following …
A tale of two Quads
A virtual meeting of the foreign ministers of India, Israel, UAE and the US took place on October 18, 2021 The United States’ chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan has dented the credibility of the trans-Atlantic relationship and dealt a body blow to the NATO. These developments add to the already existing frustration in Washington that the …
Reflections on Events in Afghanistan-29
Taliban government’s deputy prime minister Abdul Salam Hanafi (C) and Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi (R) arrive in Moscow to attend international talks on Afghanistan, Oct. 20, 2021 29. Taliban is the winner at Moscow conference The Moscow meeting of ten regional states and the Taliban officials on Wednesday has produced an outcome that by …
Biden makes eye contact with Saudi Crown Prince
Top White House aide Jake Sullivan met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Neom, Saudi Arabia, September 27, 2021 What is absolutely certain about the visit by the US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to Saudi Arabia and his meeting with the powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday, is that it couldn’t have …
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