Saudi Aggression in Yemen Pulls Kingdom Toward Protracted Quagmire
After nearly seven weeks of airstrikes launched by Saudi Arabia and a coalition of Arab allies, a fragile temporary ceasefire appears to have taken hold over most of Yemen. The bombing campaign was launched in late March with...
US Strategic Impotence Driving Iran Détente
The deal reached in early April between Iran and major world powers represents a high point in negotiations aimed at outlining the future of Iran’s nuclear programme. Both sides have made considerable concessions, while Hassan Rouhani’s government in Tehran has...
German Intransigence Raises Spectre for ‘Grexit’
Greece’s newly elected government, led by the leftist Syriza coalition that swept into power in January on an anti-austerity platform, finds itself in a highly unenviable position. Athens is burdened by colossal debt, imminent liquidity problems and a looming banking...
China’s Slowdown, Harbinger of a New Business Model?
At the opening of China’s annual parliamentary meeting last week, Premier Li Keqiang laid out Beijing’s policy agenda for the year, speaking frankly about the formidable challenges to growth facing the Chinese economy. Li referred to a myriad of systemic...
A Year On, MH370 Case no Closer to Being Cracked
The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which took off from Kuala Lumpur carrying 239 people one year ago, continues to defy conventional explanation. Despite the largest multinational search and rescue effort ever conducted, not a trace of debris...
A year after Euro-Maidan, Ukraine coming apart at the seams
It has been a year since protestors descended on Kiev’s Independence Square calling for the ouster of President Victor Yanukovich. Though the movement consisted of both liberal pro-European elements and rightwing quasi-fascist groups, most...
Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive takes a great leap forward
Upon becoming general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC in 2012, President Xi Jinping put forward a frank assessment that endemic corruption among party elites and cadres threatens to delegitimize the reform process and undermine the CPC’s rule...
West touting ‘classified’ evidence to avoid impartial MH17 investigation
Western governments insist that Ukrainian rebels assisted by Russia were responsible for shooting down flight MH17, but they are unwilling to disclose their evidence and explain their methodologies. As the enquiry...