January 25, 2020 Philip C Johnson, Ph.D. http://www.globalnext.org Saudi Arabia has always been a bit of a conundrum. Hosting Islam’s two holiest sites, Mecca and Medina, she holds considerable influence over the religious lives of 1.8 billion Muslims. Saudi’s significant regional rival is another Muslim nation - the Islamic Republic of Iran (a Shiite Muslim … Continue reading Can Saudi Arabia be Trusted in 2020?
Philip C. Johnson, Ph.D. December 24, 2018 http://www.globalnext.org Last Wednesday, President Trump announced that we are bringing our troops home from Syria and about half of our troops home from Afghanistan. Politicians, military experts and the media have all reacted like the world is coming to an end. Even all those politicians and media pundits … Continue reading Goodbye Syria and Afghanistan: Good? Bad? Or Prophetic?
September 2, 2018 Phil Johnson, Ph.D. http://www.globalnext.org If you want support in hating U.S. President Donald Trump, you only need to look as far as CNN, the New York Times, Hollywood, the international press or John McCain’s funeral. (Seriously - who uses a man’s funeral to take passive-aggressive pot shots at other leaders? Mr. Obama?) … Continue reading Why I Don’t Hate Donald Trump
May 16, 2014 Finally, after waging the world’s largest and most expensive democratic election, India has announced that their new Prime Minister is Narendra Modi. The leader of India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (a Hindu nationalist party) won with the largest margin in almost 30 years. Here are three things you need to know: The new … Continue reading India: The World’s Largest Democracy has a New Prime Minister: So What?
November 26, 2013The DEAL has been struck. After a decade of tension between Iran and the West over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, a deal of sorts has been reached and now we will wait and see if it ends up being good for the world, or not. What’s the Deal?Basically, Iran has agreed to limit its nuclear … Continue reading The Iranian DEAL
On October 5th the US conducted two raids to capture high-value targets in Africa, one in Libya and the other in Somalia. The raid in Somalia netted nothing, but the incursion in Libya turned up Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, aka Abu Anas al-Libi - who was arrested and is apparently on the USS San Antonio being … Continue reading Al-Qaeda Terrorist Captured Instead of “Droned.” Why the Shift in US Strategy?
My source inside of Syria contacted me today. He’s a Syrian journalist in Damascus covering the ongoing civil war. He doesn’t want me to use his name, but I trust his information - I’ve literally put my life in his hands when I worked on a project in Damascus back in 2009. After giving me … Continue reading Syria, Chemical Weapons and the US Response
The pursuit of democracy is messy. Sorting out a society when all you’ve had since you can remember is tyrannical dictatorships is going to take some time. Many of my colleagues in Egypt believed that they had achieved freedom and democracy on February 11, 2011, when President Mubarak was ousted. Not true. Removing Mubarak was … Continue reading Five Reasons Americans Should Care About What’s Happening in Egypt
The Global Nexter 