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Highway To Hell?

Roads near Yosemite National Park in California silhouetted in red as fast-moving wildfires tear through the area.

Thousands of nearby residents have been evacuated to safer grounds, authorities say.

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Israeli Raid On West Bank Kills Two Palestinians

The IDF claims it was targeting suspected militants.

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At least 17 Hait­ian refugees killed as boat cap­sizes off Ba­hamas
News | Today's latest from Al Jazeera (RSS)

The Ba­hamas is a tran­sit route for Hait­ian im­mi­grants flee­ing pover­ty, vi­o­lence and seek­ing to reach the US main­land.
Published On 24 Jul 2022

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News | Today's latest from Al Jazeera (RSS)

Pope ar­rives in Cana­da on tour of ‘penance’ for In­dige­nous abuse
Trip cen­tres around apol­o­gy for abuse that In­dige­nous chil­dren en­dured at Catholic-run res­i­den­tial schools.
Published On 24 Jul 2022

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NGO Staff Saves Hundreds Of Migrants In Mediterranean Sea

A total of 428 migrants, among them pregnant women and a man with severe burns, who were trying to cross the Mediterranean sea heading towards Europe on heavily overcrowded boats, have been rescued by the Sea-Watch group.

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Six achievements of the Putin – Khamenei meeting
Strategic Culture Foundation (RSS)

The real story of last week’s Tehran summit was the strategic advancement of a Russian-Iranian alliance.

By Abdel Bari ATWAN

If we were to put the Turkish threats to invade Syria and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s aggressive maneuvers aside, and focus on the most important aspect of Tehran’s trilateral summit – namely, the Russian-Iranian relations which advanced immeasurably in the private meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei – then last week’s meeting in Iran was geopolitically more significant than acknowledged.

We are potentially looking at a pivotal military, political, and economic alliance that could shift the balance of power in West and Central Asia, a matter of significant concern to Europe, and the US, in particular.

Russia fills a vacuum

It was no accident that the Russian president’s second major foreign visit since his forces stormed Ukraine in February was to Tehran. His trip neatly coincided with remarks by US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan alleging a Russo-Iranian military agreement that would provide Moscow with hundreds of Iranian drones, alongside a delegation of Iranian military experts that would train their Russian counterparts in their usage.

During his unexceptional visit to Jeddah to meet with leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Egypt, Jordan and Iraq, US President Joe Biden declared that his country will not permit a strategic security vacuum in the region to be filled by the Sino-Russian alliance.

Yet, there was Putin in Tehran, taking a major step to fill this post-American vacuum, documenting his strategic relations with Iran in bilateral meetings with the country’s spiritual (Mr. Khamenei) and executive (President Ebrahim Raisi) leadership.

The Russian-Iranian alliance

Putin’s visit to Tehran resulted in a number of strategic achievements on all levels that serve to enhance this new alliance:

First, is the expansion of the BRICS organization that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, which Iran – as an ascending regional power – aspires to join.

Second, Iran’s provision of drones to Russia helps compensate for its losses in the Ukrainian war and enhances its offensive capabilities. This confirms two basic things: the advanced progress and development of Iranian military industries; and Iran’s resolution of its position in this war by throwing its weight behind its new strategic ally, Russia. In return, it is possible that Tehran may receive advanced Russian military hardware like Sukhoi aircraft and the S-400 anti-missile system.

Third, Russia has directly benefited from Iran’s 40 years of experience in dealing with US economic sanctions, and it is expected that Tehran will spare Moscow from the many pitfalls it has itself encountered, given that they now face this common enemy.

Fourth, full Iranian-Russian coordination in the current energy war, as Russia ranks first in the global production and exportation of gas, followed by Iran, which ranks high in global oil production as well as holding a key position in OPEC.

Fifth, the expansion of key trade and investment portfolios between the two countries. Most notably, during the summit, the National Iranian Oil Company signed an unprecedented memorandum worth $40 billion with Russia’s Gazprom to develop two Iranian gas fields and six oil fields.

Sixth, Iran’s active participation in the new financial system that China and Russia are seeking to establish as an alternative the US-led SWIFT bank messaging system. This would potentially include the cessation of trades in US dollars, the formation of a unified collective basket of regional c...

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