perspectives

The first Arab Spring began in 2011 due to civil unrest and ended in 2013 with either Arab governments quashing the protests with force, money, or both; or because the Arab public saw what happened in Libya, Syria, and Yemen and did not want their own situation to deteriorate into civil war. 

So what is this new about the Arab Spring 2.0? 

This new wave of protests focuses on the same issues, however protesters have learnt from...

Since the turn of the century, the Iraqi public have certainly not enjoyed political stability. The decision of the United States and its allies to invade the country in 2003 set a high threshold for expected disruption. Yet, the seizure of vast swathes of territory by Islamic State a decade later obliterated this threshold, setting it exponentially higher. This inclination toward existential crises seemingly hasn’t abated eit...

A war is brewing in straits of Hormuz which could have major global implications on peace in the Persian Gulf, the Middle East and the world at large.

The root cause of this possible conflict is the ever weakening Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA). More commonly known as the Iranian Nuclear Deal, the signatories include Iran and the negotiating members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) of China, France, Gre...

On October 6, the White House released a statement following a conversation between Presidents Trump and Erdogan announcing Turkey would be imminently ‘moving forward with its long-planned operation into northern Syria’. The casual Sunday announcement accordingly declared U.S. troops embedded with allied Kurdish forces – who, it should be noted, were not mentioned by the statement – would withdraw to allow for creation of a “s...

September 5th. A day like so many others in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul; one filled with carnage and terror after a suicide bombing, claimed by the Taliban, in the city centre. The victims: twelve Afghans and two NATO troops, including an American.

It was this last casualty that most incensed one man, thousands of kilometers away. When President Trump announced two days later (as always, by tweet) that he was cancelling peace...