After Arab Spring, Easter hope but mainly fear

After Arab Spring, Easter hope but mainly fear

John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — The winds of change continue to swirl throughout the Middle East as the region enters the third year of the socio/political phenomenon optimistically dubbed as the Arab Spring. While political scientists debate the ebb and flow of freedoms and anarchy in the region ranging from Egypt to Libya and […]

Syria’s future: Israel favors fragmentation while Saudis want reliable counter to Iran

Syria’s future: Israel favors fragmentation while Saudis want reliable counter to Iran

Special to WorldTribune.com By Brian M Downing The Syrian rebellion is bringing new security concerns to many countries, especially Israel. Under the Assads, Syria had been cowed by Israeli military superiority. Syria’s future, its intentions and capabilities, are in doubt. Israel cannot determine the outcome of events there – no state or group of states […]

Droning on and on: Why Kim Jong-Un and Syria’s Assad are buddies

Droning on and on: Why Kim Jong-Un and Syria’s Assad are buddies

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com When Kim Jong-Un and the North Korean propaganda machine hint they’ve got startling new weapons for striking terror into Americans thousands of miles away, they may not be talking about just their long-range missiles. How about drones, possibly the most talked about new death-dealer in the inventory of […]

Report: Syrian complex struck by Israel was built by North Korea

Report: Syrian complex struck by Israel was built by North Korea

Special to WorldTribune.com TEL AVIV — North Korea played a major role in the construction of a chemical weapons facility targeted by Israel on Jan. 30, a report said. Israel Defense magazine reported that North Korea helped design and build the Jamariya facility outside Damascus. Israel has not formally claimed responsibility for the Jan. 30 […]

Russian flotilla heads for Mediterranean to counter NATO role in Syria

Russian flotilla heads for Mediterranean to counter NATO role in Syria

Special to WorldTribune.com Compiled by Miles Yu, Geostrategy-Direct.com Over 300 Russian Marines are onboard a flotilla of at least five warships from Russia’s Baltic Fleet and the Black Sea Fleet en route to the Syrian coast in the Mediterranean, both Russian and Israeli sources have confirmed. Moscow had earlier stated that the purpose of sending […]

Addressing global terrorism on a day when it was everywhere

Addressing global terrorism on a day when it was everywhere

John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — The Hydra-headed challenge of global terrorism continues as the multi-faceted threat changes and mutates in response to increasingly effective counter-measures. Few countries have been in the cross hairs of violence as has been Pakistan, so it should come as no surprise that in the Security Council’s urgent meeting to […]

Sunni protesters block Iraq’s trade routes to Jordan, Syria

Sunni protesters block Iraq’s trade routes to Jordan, Syria

Special to WorldTribune.com BAGHDAD — The Sunni minority has launched protests that hampered relations with neighboring Jordan. Sunni demonstrators have been blocking roads in the western Iraqi province of Anbar. The protesters blocked a highway to Jordan and Syria, which halted trade and passengers to and from Iraq. “The [Iraqi] Defense Ministry has ordered the […]

FLASHBACK: Where did Saddam’s WMD go? To Syria …

FLASHBACK: Where did Saddam’s WMD go? To Syria …

Special to WorldTribune.com (Originally posted on Aug. 26, 2003.) U.S. intelligence suspects Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction have finally been located. Unfortunately, getting to them will be nearly impossible for the United States and its allies, because the containers with the strategic materials are not in Iraq. Instead they are located in Lebanon’s heavily-fortified Bekaa […]

Named but not shamed: UN Rights Committee cites abuses in Syria, Iran and N. Korea

Named but not shamed: UN Rights Committee cites abuses in Syria, Iran and N. Korea

John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Tis’ the season in the General Assembly for some serious if generally overlooked work and reports. An Assembly committee has soundly condemned the continuing human and political rights abuses in three global transgressors; Syria, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the quaintly titled Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, aka […]

Israel’s successful Sudan air strike delivered a pointed message to Iran

Israel’s successful Sudan air strike delivered a pointed message to Iran

Special to WorldTribune.com Global Information System Israel’s precision air strike on Oct. 24, against the Yarmouk weapons production facility in the suburbs of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, was — apart from destroying a facility which provided rockets and missiles to Hamas to use against Israel — clearly intended to send a direct message to the […]