Iraqi refugee charged with plan to bomb Houston malls

Iraqi refugee charged with plan to bomb Houston malls

Special to WorldTribune.com Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty An Iraqi refugee suspected of sympathizing with the Islamic State extremist group wanted to set off bombs at two Texas malls and was learning to make explosive devices, U.S. authorities said on January 13. Omar Faraj Saeed al-Hardan, who emigrated to Houston from Iraq in 2009, […]

U.S. Supreme Court seen allowing terror victims to get frozen Iran funds

U.S. Supreme Court seen allowing terror victims to get frozen Iran funds

Special to WorldTribune.com The U.S. Supreme Court is set to clear the way for families of American victims of Iran-sponsored terrorism to collect some $2 billion. The funds would be part of a $2.65 billion judgment against Iran the families won in U.S. federal court in 2007. The funds are currently being held in New […]

Djibouti: Tiny strategic hub plays host to armies from seven nations

Djibouti: Tiny strategic hub plays host to armies from seven nations

Special to WorldTribune.com By Backgrounder, Geostrategy-Direct.com Djibouti, a former French colony, is a country of searing heat (summer temperatures average over 100 degrees) and little rain (17 days a year on average). The population of the East African state is 900,000, which ranks 159th in the world. But the tiny state on the Horn of […]

Cultural glitches: Why does the Iranian community (and also the U.S. academy) demonize national self interest?

Cultural glitches: Why does the Iranian community (and also the U.S. academy) demonize national self interest?

Special to WorldTribune.com By Sheda Vasseghi The recent death of the late Shah’s twin sister Princess Ashraf Pahlavi (1919-2016) has caused an odd part of the Iranian psyche to resurface once again. Under articles about the princess or the late Shah, some Iranians leave peculiar and negative comments on social media that are illogical, offensive, […]

Are Arab media correct? Is Obama really campaigning for top ‘messianic’ UN job?

Are Arab media correct? Is Obama really campaigning for top ‘messianic’ UN job?

Special to WorldTribune.com By Sol W. Sanders President Barak Obama repeatedly refers to the end of his time in office and claims he is no longer campaigning. There is more than a little ambiguity there, however, for his modus operandi is a permanent campaign – even when it is for more limited objectives than the […]

Why the petro kingdom executed a prominent Shiite cleric

Why the petro kingdom executed a prominent Shiite cleric

Special to WorldTribune.com By Norman Bailey Very seldom does a columnist have the experience of having one of his or her predictions begin to take shape within weeks, much less in 24 hours. But that is what has happened. Shortly after writing my column ‘Petro kingdom at risk? 2016’s Mideast power matrix and the Chinese […]

Unprecedented U.S. Mideast strategy is ad hoc, disregards existing frameworks

Unprecedented U.S. Mideast strategy is ad hoc, disregards existing frameworks

Special to WorldTribune.com By Gregory R. Copley, Editor, GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs Senior-level sources in numerous Middle Eastern governments have privately expressed bewilderment at recent and current U.S. government strategies and policies toward the region. But a closer examination of U.S. policies, now almost entirely dictated by the Obama White House, shows no cohesive national […]

North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un starts 2016 with a bang

North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un starts 2016 with a bang

Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Not one week into the New Year, the North Koreans jolted global concerns as well as the Richter scale with a nuclear weapons test. While the underground blast shook the remote Punggye-ri region near the Russian border, the political reverberations of the bomb have been […]

Kerry says done deal with Iran ‘days away’ as key Democrats press Obama for new sanctions

Kerry says done deal with Iran ‘days away’ as key Democrats press Obama for new sanctions

Special to WorldTribune.com The nuclear deal between Iran and world powers is “days away” from implementation, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Jan. 7. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif “made it clear to me they intend to complete obligations with respect to implementation day as rapidly as possible,” Kerry said. “And we […]

Stephen Bosworth, ‘consummate diplomat’ brought his values to the table

Stephen Bosworth, ‘consummate diplomat’ brought his values to the table

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com American ambassadors to South Korea pursue a fine line between defense of the U.S.-Korean alliance and pursuit of North-South reconciliation. If they seem hell-bent on military goals, they’re accused of trying to push Korea into a war that nobody wants. And if they appear overly eager for talks, […]