Author Archives: Tex

It has been a trend in current analyses of Iran to minimize the Shi’a brand of Islam as a critical motivator and factor in Iranian ideology, particularly in policies and the confrontation with the West. The Iranian protection off al … Continue reading →

The Wall Street Journal, one of the remaining few American  mainstream print media sources with any credibility at all,( at least as long as Trump is not the subject)  had on 24 February, a very informative collection of news articles … Continue reading →

The last couple of weeks there have been a flurry of articles describing the increasing level of ties between China and Saudi Arabia. This has probably  been prompted by the visit of Chinese leader Xi Jinping to Saudi where he … Continue reading →

Since I wrote my piece on the Russians using Syria as a test  bed for the war in the Ukraine, https://wp.me/p2oiqJ-3VT things appear very differently. The seemingly more professional Russian army has not been evidenced in the war so far. The … Continue reading →

P.J. Vakiotis , a famed Greek-American Middle East scholar, in a talk to students  in the  late 60’s at the American University of Beirut opined that the enmity between the Arab Staes and Israel was not only beneficial but necessary … Continue reading →

From my research over the years is that the only successful counterinsurgency conducted by a Western power in the Middle East was by the Italians in Libya.1  See Vincere, The Italian Royal Army  Counterinsurgency 1922-1940 ( Federica  Saini Fasonatti.)The Italian … Continue reading →

Counterinsurgency in the Greater Middle East: The Russian Tar Baby   According to my father[1], a Russian born in Vitebsk, the son of an officer in the Czar’s army, the Russian soldier is the best soldier materiel in the world. … Continue reading →

I have been reading an excellent book detailing the fratricide going on for years in  Libya , The Burning Shores, lauded by many movers and shakers in the Washington Middle East policy and scholarly establishment. I certainly appreciate the courage … Continue reading →

It is very ironic that Israel , was, at its beginning , seen by the American bureaucratic, military and intelligence institutions, as the major threat to American interests in the Middle East. Very few  in the top echelons of the … Continue reading →

Having been vitally interested in the Middle East since my days at the Military Academy in the late fifties, I have found that my interest in this still important region flagging. It is certainly not the lack of the usual … Continue reading →