Fortunately, there are some signs that 'change' and change for the better is on the way. But no one should expect a return to the Middle East as it was prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The cards in the region are being reshuffled, with implications likely to last for a considerable stretch. Read more

Twenty years ago, the USSR conducted its foreign affairs under the shadow of its impressive army, formidable nuclear and conventional weapons, and a secret service that appeared to have relentless control. After the war in Georgia on 8 August, 2008, it appeared that Russia has slipped back to its old ways. The deployment of missiles to Kaliningrad can be understood in the same light. Read more

Goeben, Breslau and McFall are more than names of three warships. Germany gave Goeben and Breslau to the Ottoman Empire. Their first mission after the acquisition was to bomb Sevastopol in Crimea, where the Russian Black Sea Navy headquarters was located. Warships entered the Black Sea for "naval exercise" and were commanded by their German crew. Read more

The Monastery of Saint George (Agios Georgios), surrounded by trees, is located at the highest peak of Büyükada, the biggest and most beautiful island of Istanbul's Princes' Islands. This Monastery is named after the Roman Army Officer, Anatolian Saint George, who was killed because of his Christian beliefs by idolaters in the 3rd century A.D. and was buried in Palestine. Read more

The great Iranian fable writer Samad Behrangi wrote in one of his stories about a little fish that takes on an adventurous journey to open seas from the river he lives in. When the Little Black Fish tells his mother of his decision to go, he explains why: "I want to know, can there be another way to live in the world?" Read more

The Taliban, even at the apogee of its power, could not sustain full control over North Afghanistan. Following American intervention, the Taliban has sustained some power over the southern provinces. Read more