On the morning of February 6th, 2023, Turkey was shaken by two powerful earthquakes that left a trail of destruction in their wake. The first struck 34 km west of the city of Gaziantep at 1:17 UTC, with a magnitude of 7.8, making it one of the strongest earthquakes to hit Turkey in modern times. The quake was felt in both Turkey and Syria, causing widespread damage and loss of life. The aftershocks were also very strong, with the strongest registering a magnitude of 6.7. The second earthquake hit the city of Kahramanmaraş just 9 hours later, with a magnitude of 7.5, causing further destruction and adding to the toll of the first quake.
With Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House with a Republican majority, it is widely assumed that there will be some shifts in US Foreign Policy. There are several countries in crisis that could benefit from a change of approach from Washington, whether it’s increasing development projects, increased…
Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has ended its ceasefire, and it has ended it with a literal bang, or in fact several bangs.
A few days ago, Midstone Centre associate Vineet reached out to the spokesperson of Jaish al-ʿAdl, Hossein Baloch, via an encrypted messaging app, and requested an interview. Our request was granted by the group’s spokesperson and a short interview was conducted in Persian. The views and opinions expressed by the individual interviewed are solely his own and are based on his own perspective and opinions. The views expressed in the publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the author or Midstone Centre. In light of the ongoing protests in Iran and the subsequent crackdown by the regime, Jaish al-’Adl announced support for the protesters. The intention behind this interview is to explore and understand the views and stances of Jaish al-’Adl.
The week of October the 16th saw the Biden administration gain what could be its first foreign policy victory since the debacle of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The images from Burkina Faso after the recent coup have been startling. After the ouster of the previous junta by another group of dissatisfied officers, two things stood out: First was the number of Russian flags being flown by those celebrating the ouster, and the other was the subsequent arson attacks on French interests.
On the 16th of September, a 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Amini - whose Kurdish name is Jinna - was brutally and tragically killed by Tehran's fundamentalist theocratic regime's so-called 'morality police' for allegedly breaking forced headscarf rules.