Mass protests have been held in Iraq for more than a month. Al-Tahrir Square in central Baghdad has become the epicenter of revolutionary events. However, the experts are in no hurry to say what type of revolution it may be. The actions of the protesters strongly resemble the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004 (in Iraq, youth also celebrate weddings ...
Instability in Iran Following the November 15 hike in gasoline prices (from 11,000 to 20,000 Iranian rials per liter), a wave of street protests began in cities across Iran, in many places turning into riots. Rioters set fire to banks, shops, gas stations and clashed with police. There are reports that some of the belligerents opened fire on law enforcement ...
Around six years ago, in October 2013, I was invited to deliver a speech at an international conference hosted by ICRC and Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi. My speech was on “The Pros and Cons of Social Media”. At that time, I warned about the possibility of governments misusing social media resources to spread their influence, point out ...
Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential elections has had dire implications for the American “Greater Middle East” project which has guided US foreign policy in the Middle East since it was first put forward in 2003. Trump’s reorientation toward internal US problems (migration, economy, protectionism), the emergence of new geopolitical rivals (China and Iran) and the turning point being ...
While the world is adamantly watching the events in the Persian Gulf and trying to figure out when the sea battle between the U.S. and Iran starts off, Washington is drafting Plan B for an attack on the shore. The situation in the Persian Gulf deteriorated sharply at the beginning of May after the U.S. had conducted a number of ...