It is often said that the only predictability about the Middle East’s geopolitics is its unpredictability, and yet what has remained remarkably consistent is the […]
Category: Middle East
Review of Ahmed Rashid’s “Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia”
As the United States withdrew its troops from Afghanistan in 2021 after two decades of fighting the Afghan Taliban following the 2001 invasion, it ironically […]
Russia-Taliban Relations: A Strategic Embrace or a Risky Gamble?
On July 3rd, Russia announced its decision to formally recognise the Afghan Taliban’s Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) regime as the country’s legitimate government. This […]
The Forgetting of Being: Ibtisam Azem and the Lived World of Palestine
In his seminal non-fiction The Art of the Novel, Milan Kundera highlights Edmund Husserl’s expounding of ‘Crisis of European Humanity’, holding that it was for […]
Surveillance, Cybersecurity, and Human Rights: Navigating Privacy in the Digital Age
Globalisation is well-rooted in the contemporary world order and has touched every aspect of human life. The present system is highly dependent on technologies that […]
Peace in the Shadows: Women’s Unseen Struggle in Yemen’s War
Once rich in culture and history, Yemen has been devastated by nearly a decade of war between the Iranian-backed Houthi rebel movement and the post-2011 […]
Iran-China Relations in the Shadow of American Pressure
Summary: This article examines the deepening China–Iran partnership, highlighting dual-use material transfers, energy trade resilience, and coordinated maritime drills as tools to counter U.S. sanctions […]
China’s Quiet Game in the Iran-Israel Conflict
Summary: China’s muted role in the Iran-Israel conflict reveals its careful balancing act between strategic neutrality and deep regional interests. Despite strong ties with Iran, […]
What Explains the Duality of West’s Syrian Embrace and Afghanistan Abandonment?
International relations are rife with paradoxes. Few cases illustrate the contrasting behaviour of major powers, particularly Western actors, more starkly than Syria and Afghanistan, where […]
From Haram to Deterrence: How the Israel-US Aggression May Have Reversed Iran’s Nuclear Policy
For decades, Iran insisted it did not seek nuclear weapons. In 2003, the country’s current supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued an oral fatwa (religious […]