2021/03/03
Strategic Council Online—Interview: A university professor says re-stationing of American military personnel in Iraq, giving legitimacy to their presence and weakening the status of Hashd al-Shabi in Iraq are the main objectives of NATO’s decision to increase the number of its military forces in Iraq by eight times, adding that if there is no serious determination by foreign players to make Iraq insecure, Iraqi forces can guarantee security in the fight against terrorism.
2021/03/02
Strategic Council Online – In the nearly 60-year old history of the Munich Security Conference, which is held annually by the private sector on global security policy in the presence of international security and military politicians, this is the first time that a president of the United States has attended it, and for the first time since taking office, has addressed the European audience directly.
Mahmoud Fazeli – Analyst of international affairs
2021/03/02
Strategic Council Online – An expert on Europe affairs believes that a series of developments occurred in the Russian-European relations over the past three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union show that European and American governments see Russia not as a partner but as a rival.
2021/02/24
Strategic Council Online—Interview: An expert of Afghanistan affairs says it seems the Americans had reached an agreement with the Taliban to limit their military presence in Afghanistan, adding that the United States would prolong its military presence in Afghanistan not to lose it to its rivals like in Iraq.
2021/02/19
Strategic Council Online – In July 2020, former US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper presented a plan to reduce the number of US troops in Germany by 12,000. The majority of the troops, estimated at about 6,400, should return to the United States, while about 5,600 troops would remain in Europe, based in Belgium and Italy, and several thousand would travel on US-European rotation plans. The headquarters of the United States European Command (EUCOM), as well as the US Army Special Operations Command in Europe, will be moved from Stuttgart in Germany to Belgium. The plan reduced the number of US troops stationed in Germany from 36,000 to 24,000. Based on US claim, the measure would “strengthen NATO”, “deter Russia” and “reassure US allies”. Even some US analysts have called the move a “revenge” against Merkel.
Mahmoud Fazeli – Expert on International Affairs
