When it comes to conducting international relations the West has a tendency to over-reach, this is particularly true when it is engaged in armed conflict. Included amongst them are the instances where the West over-promised and under-delivered as was the case in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya…

How the Ukrainian crisis unfolds and ultimately ends may well shape the future of the international system. That will depend also on who will emerge stronger from the conflict. Will it be Russia or the US and its allies? What is clear however is that Ukraine and its people will be the greatest…

The Syrian conflict marked its eleventh anniversary on Tuesday. Putting aside the enormous suffering endured by the Syrian people, what is also striking is that international efforts to achieve a settlement have lost steam over the past few years. A few weeks ago, I had settled on the theme of…

The dust has yet to settle on the crisis in Ukraine. How and when it will come to an end is a matter of conjecture: ranging from Moscow succeeding in achieving its objectives in neutralizing Ukraine in one form or the other, restructuring the European security architecture and accelerating the…

Much has already been said and much more will be written about the US debacle in Afghanistan. Some of it is objective, seeking to understand the failure of US policies of multiple administrations over many decades. But also some of the analysis, has and will in future, fall victim to the partisan…

Internal problems, as well as regional dynamics, converged to bring about the Syrian tragedy. Foremost amongst the domestic reasons is the nature of the regime that has ruled Damascus for decades. A regime caught in a time warp refusing to exhibit the flexibility and imagination required to deal…

Hopefully with the departure of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu a political era may have come to an end. An era in which fear was exploited to feed the political ambition of leaders and, where politics was ultimately about self-promotion not national service. Having said that, it is…

Ten years ago the Syrian people took to the streets demanding freedom, dignity and respect for their human rights. Little did they know that they would be caught between heavy-handed security measures, terrorism and foreign machinations, all of which fed on one another with calamitous…

Now that a Biden administration is all but guaranteed to be inaugurated on January 20, 2021, it is time to consider how best the Arab countries should engage it as of now and through the first half of next year. As stated in a previous article, the the Middle East will not be a top priority for…