At the cross-roads of Asia and the Middle East, detaining both the world’s second largest natural gas reserves and the fourth largest oil supplies, Iran’s strategic location is both its strength and weakness. And within this Persian giant, no other region better embodies such challenges as that of Baluchistan overlapping South-Eastern Iran, Western Pakistan and Southern Afghanistan.
READ MOREMany analysts have described Trump’s rhetoric from a moral perspective, but not a rhetorical one. If we consider the three basic rhetorical appeals, as laid out by Aristotle- logos, pathos and ethos- it becomes clear that Trump almost exclusively uses pathos, or emotional appeals, to communicate his points. This fact is revealing of him as a speaker and leader.
READ MORE“First they stole my idea, and then they poisoned others with it” is what owners of intellectual property (IP) are expected to say when their rights are infringed. If you believe that this is an overstatement, and that you are immune to this problem, think twice.
READ MOREForget about foreign conflict, instability and terrorism: cyber security attacks are quickly becoming the biggest threat to European democracies. Over the past ten years, we have witnessed a steady and worrisome increase in online criminal activity, with cases of theft, espionage and data extraction on the rise. What were once merely disruptive threats have now become destructive attacks. Dealing with cyber attacks will require more than legislative proposals and “mainstreaming cybersecurity”.
READ MOREOn 5 June, Qataris residing in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) woke up to learn that they were asked to pack and leave within 14 days. They were expected to quit their jobs, pull their children out of school, bid their friends and families goodbye, and go back to Qatar. A diplomatic row that should have been confined to political salons has instead exploded into an identity crisis.
READ MORESince the 23rd of May, ISIS’s regional allies, Abu Sayyaf and Maute, have taken roots in the southern Filipino town of Marawi, despite several attempts by Manilla´s governmental forces to recapture the city. The Mindanao morass is just another milestone in a decade long conflict crippling the Southern regions of the archipelago. The growing influence of ISIS in Southeast Asia is increasingly menacing regional stability. This dramatic state of play has led to concerns about the region sheltering the next Willayah, the official provinces of ISIS. With such a threat looming on the horizon, how can regional governments develop long-term fitting responses?
READ MORE