Author: Saleem el-Salik

Although no withdrawal is expected in Syria in the short term, the future of support for the Kurds is uncertain. For the Americans, support for the SDF should continue as a pressure factor on the ground to shape the Syrian government and break Iran’s influence. But it seems inevitable that they will reach a point where they can say, ‘Yes, it’s time to go.’ This is a prediction that the Americans do not deny. In an interview with TASS on the sidelines of the Astana meeting, the Kremlin’s Special Envoy to Syria Alexander Lavrentiev called Turkey an ‘occupying force.’ He says other…

RIYADH: Qatar achieved a real growth rate of 8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the same period in the previous year, official data showed on Tuesday. The real economic growth rate measures growth, as expressed by gross domestic product, from one period to another, adjusted for inflation or deflation. The quarterly gross domestic product estimates at constant prices reached about 179.99 billion riyals ($49.43 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to the revised fourth-quarter estimates for 2021 amounting to 166.68 billion riyals. According to the country’s Planning and Statistics Authority, the GDP at current…

China and Tajikistan on Friday announced the elevation of ties to comprehensive strategic partnership in the new era during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ongoing state visit to Tajikistan, injecting new momentum and opening up a new chapter in bilateral ties and common development of the two countries. The visit, which saw Xi award Tajik President Emomali Rahmon the Friendship Medal of the People’s Republic of China and the issuing of a joint statement detailing the blueprint for bilateral cooperation, is seen as a landmark event, underscoring the high-quality development and the elevation of bilateral ties led by head-of-state diplomacy, analysts said. It showed that the…

A former U.S. Navy chief petty officer has been court-martialed and sentenced to 18 years in a military prison for attempted espionage and violating orders, according to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). It is the latest in a series of high-profile spying cases involving Navy personnel, and by far the most serious prison sentence. In January, Chief Fire Controlman (Aegis) Bryce Steven Pedicini was charged with multiple counts of attempted espionage for mishandling or disclosing classified information. Pedicini was a former destroyer crewmember who worked on the Aegis combat system, the Navy’s premier integrated radar and weapons control platform.…

The president of Iran was on Sunday night feared dead after the helicopter he was travelling in crashed in a mountainous region. The lives of Ebrahim Raisi and Hossein Amirabdollahian, his foreign minister, were “at risk”, an Iranian official said during a large search and rescue mission. Ahmad Vahidi, the Iranian interior minister, blamed the crash, which came just a month after Tehran launched an unprecedented missile and drone attack against Israel, on poor weather conditions. State media described the incident as an “accident”. The chief of staff of the Iranian military ordered the entire army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)…

The country’s most important archaeological find has been compared to Machu Picchu. Here’s how to see it At first glance, it doesn’t look like much, just a rectangular meadow in the Pamir foothills of central Tajikistan. But there was a time when this ground reverberated with the thunder of hooves. Occupying a broad saddle, high above the mighty Panj River, this meadow is believed to be an ancient arena for the Central Asian sport of buzkashi, or dead goat polo. The playing field was a centerpiece of a once sprawling settlement, a political and religious capital inhabited for centuries but since lost to…

Brussels (50). Two years in the war of Russian aggression against the Ukraine the balance is grim. Let us take stock. Leadership. The EU model of command and control consist of an old grumpy old general, an Austrian, who nobody has heard before, taking a political control of a pretty large army based of a defeatist model. The question to pose is the General who often is compared with Franz Josef I. suitable for modern command? The likely answer is no. The European play wars. The Europeans appear to be out of the fight. NATO command is in contradiction with…

The international human rights organization Freedom House called Tajikistan one of the “most repressive” countries in the world in 2023. In its new report, the organization gave Tajikistan just 5 points out of 100. Freedom House’s annual report “Freedom in the World – 2024. The Growing Damage of Unfair Elections and Armed Conflicts” was published on February 29. “The level of freedoms in Tajikistan decreased by two points in 2023 due to ongoing actions to suppress freedom of expression and discrimination against the Pamiri minority,” said Catherine Groth, Middle East and North Africa research analyst at Freedom House. “It had…

Brussels (12/03 – 55.56) Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, said that the dissolution of human rights NGOs signals a deteriorating environment for civil society and human rights defence in Tajikistan. She reiterated that Tajikistan must reconsider its attitudes towards civil society and view human rights defenders as allies instead of enemies. Earlier in November 2023, Tajikistan Minister of Justice announced that 700 NGOs in the country had been liquidated over an 18-month period. “Human rights defenders working on so-called sensitive issues, including freedom from torture, the right to housing and compensation for requisitioned land, minority rights, freedom of belief and good governance, political rights, and…

SINGAPORE – The Chinese embassy in Singapore on March 18 asked its citizens in the Republic to “stay away” from gambling, adding that cross-border gambling violates Chinese laws. The embassy, in a statement on its official WeChat account, “solemnly reminded” Chinese citizens in Singapore to steer clear of gambling, which is strictly prohibited by law in China. “Even if overseas casinos are opened legally, cross-border gambling by Chinese citizens is suspected of violating the laws of our country and face the risk of punitive actions,” said the embassy, warning that embassies may not be able to provide consular protection for…