The election of Recep Tayyip Erdogan as Turkey’s new executive president marks a significant step towards Turkey becoming an autocracy, and further separates Turkey from the West as a strategic partner. Turkey has been an important member of NATO, but it is increasingly doubtful whether it would now act in concert with its alliance partners […]
Tag Archives: Iran
If US President Donald Trump is good at one thing, it’s keeping his word on election promises; the promises may have been utterly crazy, but President Trump does appear to be sincere about trying to deliver. Abandoning the 2015 Iran nuclear deal with the ‘strongest sanctions in history’ is a key case in point. Apart […]
Israel has entered a dangerous new stage with its attacks on military targets in Syria following th e downing of an Israeli F-16 jet on the weekend. It has been more than 50 years since Israel has lost a jet in combat, but the continued attacks reflect more than just revenge for the jet’s loss. […]
The death of former Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh as he fled the capital of Sanaa has ended hopes of a possible end to Yemen’s civil war. Saleh abandoned his Houthi rebel allies on the weekend, sparking severe fighting in Sanaa. Despite having an initial advantage, Saleh’s less numerous forces were quickly overwhelmed and Saleh […]
It had elements from the outset, but the war in Syria is looking more like a war by proxy between outside interests. It may be that it can now only be resolved from outside. Most wars are proxies to some extent, perhaps the most notorious recent war being the three-cornered contest in Cambodia between 1978 […]
The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd’s, confirmation that the Federal Government blocked three shipments of cargo to Iran has raised questions about what the ships contained. So far, Mr Rudd has refused to comment on the details of the intervention. Defence Minister John Faulkner stopped the shipments under the Weapons of Mass Destruction Act, prompting speculation […]