Salman Rafi Sheikh

While the United States and Russia continue to contest the future of Syria despite some reasonable progress achieved on the subject, their bi-lateral competition hardly seems to have eased down. Nor will it as global powers continue to…

Recent days have witnessed some serious developments taking place with regard to international efforts at peacefully ending the war in Syria. While Russia’s decision to withdraw bulk of its fighting force from Syria does indicate…

While the Syrian crisis has been temporarily shelved through ‘cease-fire’, Erdogan’s own war for kingly political powers continues un-abated. Its latest manifestation came with Turkish state taking over Turkey’s top-selling newspaper Zaman…

After experimenting with taking a belligerent stance on the Syrian question, Turkey seems to be shifting to diplomacy once again. This shift does make sense given that belligerence has cost Turkey a lot. On the domestic front, Turkey has…

Weary of the House of Saud’s monstrous creation called ISIL and its reach to Europe, European countries seem to be inclining towards creating a ‘distance’ from Saudi Arabia. Or is it? The latest instance of this so-called ‘distance’ came on…

Saudi Arabia’s offer to send ground troops to Syria, which is actually an offer diametrically opposite to the $10bn the international community has offered to provide ‘relief’ to the people of Syria, is likely to result in escalation of…

While Russia and Saudi Arabia may have reached some sort of understanding regarding the production of oil, the Syrian question remains unresolved and it is likely to remain so unless the ‘production’ of proxy groups is absolutely cut…

While Turkey, backed by the Western propaganda as it is, officially continues to blame Russia for the so-called ‘in-human’ strikes in Syria, its own direct—un-authorised and illegitimate—bombing of Syria has actually resulted in the death of…

In its bid to end ‘global isolation’, Iranian leadership, known for its pragmatism, has been treading a very cautious path since the finalization of the US-Iran nuke deal. Iran’s traditional ‘Russian tilt’, some believe, is undergoing a…

In a recently held supposedly important meeting in Rome with regard to “peace” in Libya, the Western powers were once again seen as pushing themselves to shove by attempting to pave the way for imposing a so-called UN…

The on-going crisis in the Middle East was bound to trigger some significant geo-political changes in the region, especially in the form of formation of major alliances and counter-alliances. While the US led coalition is clearly pitted against…

It was not so long ago when we had argued in an article for NEO that an Iran-US nuclear deal would send political jolts across the entire Middle Eastern political landscape. As such, ever since the deal, what we have been observing in the Middle East is…