“We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.” So Henry Temple, the third Viscount Palmerston, described British foreign policy in 1848, at the height of its imperial pomp. “England is a power sufficiently strong, sufficiently powerful to steer her own course.” It is more than fanciful to imagine US […]
BAGHDAD Iraqi special forces made further advances against Islamic State in Mosul on Monday, pushing militants out of another district a day after driving them back to the eastern bank of the Tigris river, a spokesman said. The elite counter-terrorism service (CTS) had taken full control of the Baladiyat district and encircled neighbouring Sukkar, Sabah al-Numan told Reuters. The advance also consolidated Iraqi forces’ control of several […]
By Tulay Karadeniz (Corrects to U.S. support in fourth paragraph) By Tulay Karadeniz ANKARA President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday he believes Turkey’s dialogue with the United States will gain pace after President-elect Donald Trump takes office and that they will reach a consensus on regional issues. Relations between Washington and Turkey – a NATO ally key to the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State in Syria and […]
Who would now warn publicly against “Islamic fascism,” when the hard-liners sought to influence elections? Who would state openly that there should be a nuclear compromise? Continue reading the main story Mr. Rafsanjani said things others would not dare to say, all agreed, and his voice had at least created some tolerance for debates. “Hard-liners will be happy, but this is the start of a period of […]
BEIRUT Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his government is ready to negotiate on “everything” in proposed peace talks in Kazakhstan but said it was not yet clear who would represent the opposition and no date had been set. Assad also said a ceasefire brokered by Turkey and Russia, his most powerful ally, ahead of the talks was being violated and the army’s role was to recapture an […]
Some analysts say Russia appears to have arrived at an accommodation in which the Turks are moving to establish a security zone in northern Syria to preclude Syrian Kurds from setting up an autonomous region. In return, the Turks appear to be backing off their efforts to unseat President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, who, with Russian help, is strengthening his hold on the country’s major cities to […]
BAGHDAD: Suicide bombs at two marketplaces in Baghdad, one of them claimed by Daesh, killed at least 23 people on Sunday, police and medics said, the latest in a spate of militant attacks in the Iraqi capital that have left dozens dead.“A soldier at the gate of Jamila market opened fire on a suicide car bomb after noticing a suspect vehicle but the terrorist blew up his […]
By Mehreen Zahra-Malik | ISLAMABAD ISLAMABAD Pakistan’s recently retired army chief Raheel Sharif has been appointed to lead a new Saudi-military alliance to fight terrorism, Pakistani media have reported. Government officials in Saudi Arabia could not be reached on Sunday to confirm the appointment to head the coalition, the founding of which Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced at a sudden midnight press conference […]
By Stephen Kalin and Ahmed Rasheed | MOSUL, Iraq/BAGHDAD MOSUL, Iraq/BAGHDAD Iraqi special forces battling Islamic State reached the eastern bank of the Tigris river in Mosul on Sunday for the first time in a three-month, U.S-backed offensive to capture the city from the militants, who still control its entire western half. The group also claimed one of two attacks at two Baghdad markets in which 20 […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for January 9, 2017, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. newslide Abu Dhabi Comedy show Have some fun with the crew from Yalla Laughs, featuring top local and regional comedians, including headliner Maher “Jokah” Barwany (pictured), as well as Akshay Ahuja, Jon Boulton, Colin Armstrong […]
Yet many Western analysts believed that he sought a less confrontational relationship with the United States than other powerful figures in the Iranian hierarchy, for whom hostility toward Washington was a touchstone of ideological purity. Continue reading the main story Mr. Rafsanjani, for instance, was credited with suggesting that “Death to America” be dropped from the litany of slogans at Tehran’s Friday prayers, a weekly moment of […]
ABU DHABI // The Gulf has been left without the protection of a naval strike force after the United States Navy withdrew out its sole aircraft carrier last month. With the Dwight D Eisenhower returning to Norfolk, Virginia, at the end of December and its relief, the George H W Bush yet to leave port in the US, the gap of potentially two months is seen as […]
BERLIN A people smuggler left 19 migrants, including five children, at a motorway parking area in freezing temperatures in southern Germany and fled the scene, police said on Sunday. Police said the temperature was -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit) on Saturday when they found the migrants, one of whom had approached two other people at the parking area to raise the alarm after their driver left […]
How’s your weekend going? Redditor, Law School Graduate, and nimble navigator William Craddick (/u/PleadingtheYiff / brand new Twitter handle @williamcraddick) has made quite the name for himself on Reddit’s “The_Donald” forum. In just three short months, Craddick has managed to rack up over 153,000 “post karma” and 48k “comment karma,” which (if you’re not familiar) is impressive. The guy is an incredibly effective dot-connector, perhaps owing it to his legal training – often posting lengthy reads that […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for January 7, 2017, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. newslide Abu Dhabi Art exhibition See the exhibition Realism: Two Angels featuring works by Crimean husband and wife artists Andrey Dudchenko and Katerina Spirtus, who base their expression in realism, though interpreted in different ways, […]
Photo The Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov has been called back to its home port, Murmansk. Credit Norway Royal Airforce, via European Pressphoto Agency MOSCOW — Russia has ordered its only aircraft carrier to return home, part of a general drawdown of forces involved in the Syria conflict, a senior general announced on Friday. The carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, was sent to the eastern Mediterranean in the […]
AMMAN/BEIRUT A senior Syrian rebel official denied a report on Friday that a ceasefire had been reached between rebels and government forces in the Wadi Barada area near Damascus, where bombardments have knocked out the capital’s main water source. The government and allied fighters from the Lebanese group Hezbollah launched an attack two weeks ago to take back Wadi Barada where a spring provides supplies to four […]
BEIRUT // Syrian film, television, and theatre pioneer Rafiq Sebaie – best known to audiences as Abu Sayyah after one of his long-standing roles – has died at the age of 86. Sebaie died of natural causes on Thursday. He had undergone a series of operations since breaking his hip in a fall at his home last year, Syrian state media said. Often cast in tough-guy roles, […]
MOSCOW: Russia announced on Friday that it is withdrawing its aircraft carrier and some other Russian warships from the waters off Syria as the first step in a drawdown of its forces in the war-torn Mideast country.According to Russian General Staff chief Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the Admiral Kuznetsov carrier and accompanying ships are to be the first to leave.Gerasimov was quoted as saying by the state news […]
By Isabel Coles and Saif Hameed | NORTH OF MOSUL, Iraq/BAGHDAD NORTH OF MOSUL, Iraq/BAGHDAD Elite Iraqi troops bridged a river under the cover of darkness to seize a district of Mosul in an unprecedented night raid early on Friday, part of a new phase in the battle to capture the city from Islamic State after weeks of slowed momentum. Since last week, Iraqi forces have launched […]
ANKARA The Turkish military and Syrian rebels killed 32 Islamic State militants in the latest clashes in northern Syria on Thursday, Turkey’s armed forces said in a statement on Friday. In a round-up of its military operations over the last 24 hours in support of rebels in northern Syria, the army said Turkish warplanes destroyed 21 Islamic State targets in the areas of al-Bab and Bzagah, including […]
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi | AMMAN AMMAN The Syrian army and its allies pressed ahead on Friday with a two-week-long offensive to seize a strategic valley where a key spring provides supplies to four million people in the capital, Damascus, residents and rebels said. Aerial bombing and shelling from the army as well as Hezbollah fighters stationed in the mountains that overlook the valley on the northwestern edge […]
Submitted by Darius Shahtahmasebi via TheAntiMedia.org, Lithuania has confirmed the presence of U.S. special forces inside its territory, stating the deployment’s purpose is to train local forces and act as a deterrent against Russian aggression. Supposedly, Vladimir Putin has been deploying nuke-ready missiles in the Russian province of Kaliningrad, an area that borders Poland, Belarus, and Lithuania. This move has prompted the neighboring Baltic states to become “highly concerned” about […]
By David Brunnstrom and Arshad Mohammed | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON In three words of a tweet this week, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump vowed North Korea would never test an intercontinental ballistic missile. “It won’t happen!” Trump wrote after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said on Sunday his nuclear-capable country was close to testing an ICBM of a kind that could someday hit the United States. Preventing such […]
