The Way I See it

In the first part of this post, I argued that one of the more important back stories of the 2016 US elections was a Russian-​American effort to restore the sagging fortunes of their traditional energy businesses. This second part explains how this may actually happen. the first part of this post, I argued that one of the more important back stories of the 2016 US elections was a Russian-​American effort to restore the sagging fortunes of their traditional energy businesses. T

Much of the post-​election chatter in the United States has focused on the relationship between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, and Russia’s security services, their role in the US elections of 7 November and whether their intervention sought to favour the Republican candidate at the expense of his Democratic opponent. For me, this is a no-​brainer. Russia has involved itself in the electoral politics of a host of European Union countries in recent years. Why should Putin th

This second blog in a series of three looks at the ongoing efforts to put together a grand anti-terrorist coalition. January 2016 will see a major new phase in the efforts of the international community to reach a settlement in Syria. On 25 January, the 17-member International Syria Support Group (ISSG) will gather in Geneva armed with UN Security Council Resolution 2254, agreed just before the holiday break. This calls for Syrian unity and independence, a cease-fire, a negot

If we forget for a moment, the Islamic State (IS), al-Qaeda and their sundry allies and accomplices, there are essentially two alliances on offer in and around the hotly embattled Middle East. One is that led by the United States, set up in 2014 in response to the rapid rise of IS. This is a highly loose construct. The total number of members in this alliance has been said to number sixty-five. But the states intervening in the US framework against IS in Iraq and Syria with a