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| Opinion
Public scrutiny of foreign policy is the backbone of democracy. Criticism, when firmly rooted in a rational analysis of the balance of power and national interest, can be constructive. However, when critiques resort to populism, however, they become ideological.
  • Libya
    Opinion

    In the summer of 2019, I had an opportunity to visit the western cities of Libya. As a group of researchers, we were trying to understand the dynamics of the complicated civil war in Libya.
  • Renegade Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar’s move to not sign an agreement on the terms of a cease-fire and leave Moscow early Tuesday was decided by other parties, especially foreign ones, according to the country’s former army chief of staff.
    Opinion

    Libya's putschist Gen. Khalifa Haftar left the negotiating table in Moscow last week, putting off the prospect of a cease-fire until this weekend's Berlin conference . The man trying to topple Libya's internationally recognized, legitimate government did so under pressure from the United Arab Emirates. He denied Russian President Vladimir Putin his diplomatic accomplishment, fueling disappointment and anger in the Kremlin.
  • Ghostbusters
    Opinion

    There are also ghosts lingering in foreign and national security policies worldwide. The U.S. had a few of them. While approaching these issues maybe we should first be ready to understand the roots of the phenomenon..

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  • Libya

    Turkey is exerting a huge diplomatic effort to allow the fragile cease-fire in Libya to blossom into a lasting peace. Italian Prime Minister Conte visited the Turkish capital Monday, immediately following Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj. At the same time, Turkey's foreign minister, defense minister and intelligence chief spent the day in Moscow to facilitate talks between Libya's various warring factions.

  • Turkish and Russian delegations attend the talks on Libya talks in Moscow, Jan. 13, 2020. (AP Photo)

    After President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's meeting with key leaders in the Libyan crisis, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Turkey has come to the fore once again as a game changer in Middle Eastern politics. Turkey's diplomatic efforts produced a cease-fire at a time when Tripoli was about to fall into the hands of Gen. Khalifa Haftar. Turkey has mobilized many regional and global actors such as Algeria, Tunisia, Italy and Germany to take more initiative in the Libyan crisis.

  • President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend a meeting in Istanbul, Jan. 8, 2020. (AFP Photo)

    With tensions between Iran and the United States de-escalating for now, there is talk about cease-fire agreements in Libya and Idlib.

  • A funeral ceremony was held for Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Al Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Army, in the capital Tehran. Iranian leader Ali Khamenei made Soleimani's funeral prayer on the campus of Tehran University. President Hassan Rouhani, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, political and military officials participated in the funeral. Hamas Movement Political Bureau President Ismail Haniyeh, Soleimani's daughter Zaynap Soleimani, reacted to the United States at the funeral ceremony.

    Some people believe that Tehran's response to the Qassem Soleimani assassination resulted in an easing of tensions between the United States and Iran. They argue that the Iranians, intimidated, landed on a symbolic act of retaliation – which they proceeded to portray as vengeance on the home front.

  • 6 January, 2020 | Thousands of Iranians attended a funeral procession for top military general Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu-Mahdi al-Muhandis in the capital Tehran on Monday. Soleimani, the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards' elite Quds force, and al-Muhandis, the deputy leader of the Iraqi Hashd al-Shaabi force, were killed in a U.S. drone airstrike outside Baghdad airport on Friday. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei led the prayer for the two men at the University of Tehran, according to the official IRNA news agency. Thousands of mourners chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" as they carried banners demanding revenge for Soleimani. The corpses of Soleimani and al-Muhandis arrived in Tehran Monday dawn along with the bodies of four other people killed in the U.S. airstrike. On Saturday, thousands of mourners gathered in several Iraqi cities for a funeral procession for the two men. Soleimani's killing marked a dramatic escalation in tensions between the U.S. and Iran, which have often been at a fever pitch since President Donald Trump chose in 2018 to unilaterally withdraw Washington from a nuclear pact world powers struck with Tehran. Iran's top security body has vowed "harsh retaliation" at the "right time and right place" to the general's killing. The Pentagon accused Soleimani of plotting an attack on the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad, and planning to carry out additional attacks on U.S. diplomats and service members in Iraq and the region. (AA)

    Since the killing of Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad last week, there have been debates, questions and concerns about the potential implications of this attack on U.S. foreign policy and the international relations of the Middle East in general. The missile attacks of Iran on a base in Iraq and the debates about a Ukrainian airlines plane presumably shot down by a missile increased the level these discussions.

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