Alastair Crooke

Alastair Crooke

Alastair Crooke is a former British diplomat, and founder and director of the Beirut-based Conflicts Forum.

The Unintended and Irreversible Consequences of Trump’s Iran Deal Gamble

Contrary to mainstream presentation, Trump’s ‘war’ on Iran has much wider geopolitical ramifications than just a deepening of Iran-Israeli tensions. We will witness further ‘unintended consequences’ for the US, in the weeks ahead.

The Unintended and Irreversible Consequences of Trump’s Iran Deal Gamble

Nahum Barnea writing in Yedioth Ahronoth sets out, plainly enough, the gamble underway between Israel and Iran (and to which Trump is willing accessory): In the wake of the US exit from JCPOA, Trump will threaten a rain of ‘fire and fury’ onto Tehran, should the latter attack Israel directly, whilst Putin is expected to restrain Iran from attacking

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Alastair Crooke

Alastair Crooke

Alastair Crooke is a former British diplomat, and founder and director of the Beirut-based Conflicts Forum.

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As Israel Prepares for War with Iran, Regional Powers Scurry to Take Sides

Powerful forces are arising in parts of the Middle East that are no longer sympathetic to western ‘priorities’ nor are they particularly sympathetic to Israeli proxy-hegemony, which they see as disruptive of regional stability.

As Israel Prepares for War with Iran, Regional Powers Scurry to Take Sides

Last Thursday, General Mattis told the US Senate Armed Forces Committee that 

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Alastair Crooke

Alastair Crooke

Alastair Crooke is a former British diplomat, and founder and director of the Beirut-based Conflicts Forum.

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As the West & the Russia/China Axis Lock Horns, Israel Has to Make Its Choice

As Israelis and Palestinians reach demographic parity, the question of what type of state Israel will be is no longer theoretical.

As the West & the Russia/China Axis Lock Horns, Israel Has to Make Its Choice

A recent cluster of unrelated events is bringing Israel to a point of inflection; or at least, to a moment of deep almost existential reflection - on this, the seventieth anniversary of its founding. The depth of this quite anxious introspection became explicit in a 

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Alastair Crooke

Alastair Crooke

Alastair Crooke is a former British diplomat, and founder and director of the Beirut-based Conflicts Forum.

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Vladimir Putin’s Grand Bargain to Netanyahu: Can Israel Digest It?

The message is clear: Israel gets Russia’s limited security guarantees but loses its freedom of action.

Vladimir Putin’s Grand Bargain to Netanyahu: Can Israel Digest It?

Israel is climbing up a high horse, Alex Fishman (the veteran Israeli Defence Correspondent) wrote in the Hebrew daily, Yedioth Ahronoth, last month, “and is approaching with giant steps a ‘war of choice': Without mincing words, it’s an initiated war in Lebanon.” In Fishman’s article, he notes: Classical deterrence is when you

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Alastair Crooke

Alastair Crooke

Alastair Crooke is a former British diplomat, and founder and director of the Beirut-based Conflicts Forum.

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Miscalculations in Israel Could Pave Way to Wider War

Following a number of foreign-policy miscalculations, Israel and its allies in the Trump administration could be setting us up for more trouble in the Middle East.

Miscalculations in Israel Could Pave Way to Wider War

Last week, Israeli political leaders were rolling with guffaws and ribbing each other in delight as Vice-President Mike Pence proved that, as a Christian Zionist, he was more Zionist than the Zionists in the Knesset (minus, of course, its evicted Arab members – see here). But one might wonder what the more

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Alastair Crooke

Alastair Crooke

Alastair Crooke is a former British diplomat, and founder and director of the Beirut-based Conflicts Forum.

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Trump’s Plan To Reshape The Mid-East Through Saudi Arabia Unravels

President Trump and his son-in-law bet that the young Saudi crown prince could execute a plan to reshape the Mideast, but the scheme quickly unraveled revealing a dangerous amateur hour, writes ex-British diplomat Alastair Crooke.

Trump’s Plan To Reshape The Mid-East Through Saudi Arabia Unravels

Analysis -- Aaron Miller and Richard Sokolsky, writing in Foreign Policy, suggest “that Mohammed bin Salman’s most notable success abroad may well be the wooing and capture of President Donald Trump, and his

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Alastair Crooke

Alastair Crooke

Alastair Crooke is a former British diplomat, and founder and director of the Beirut-based Conflicts Forum.

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Key Players Stake Claims As Kurdish Referendum Roils The Mideast

The Kurdish referendum seeking independence from Iraq has created more uncertainty in the turbulent Mideast with Israel appearing to see value in the new chaos.

Key Players Stake Claims As Kurdish Referendum Roils The Mideast

One week after Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani held his referendum on Kurdish independence from Iraq (with both the referendum and independence being contrary to the Iraqi constitution), the blowback has been fierce, angry and almost universal. What may have been conceived as a clever ploy by Massoud's eldest

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Alastair Crooke

Alastair Crooke

Alastair Crooke is a former British diplomat, and founder and director of the Beirut-based Conflicts Forum.

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