By James M. Dorsey A French investigation into possible corruption in business deals related to Qatar’s winning of World Cup hosting rights moved the 2022 tournament a step closer to becoming enmeshed in the two- month-old Gulf crisis. Taken together with the… Continue Reading
by Laura Gottesdiener It was midday on Sunday, May 7th, when the U.S.-led coalition warplanes again began bombing the neighborhood of Wassim Abdo’s family. They lived in Tabqa, a small city on the banks of the Euphrates River in northern… Continue Reading
by Maximilian Beauchene Five days after Donald Trump took office, he sat down at the White House with Jared Kushner, Steve Bannon, James Mattis, Michael Flynn, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., and Mike Pence to be briefed on a possible raid… Continue Reading
by Alec Dubro The Grasberg Mine is a massive scar 14,000 feet atop West Papua’s part of New Guinea’s Central Cordillera. It’s is the world’s biggest, most profitable gold mine and the world’s third biggest copper mine, with estimated reserves… Continue Reading
by Mark Fitzpatrick Where were you when the US invaded Iraq 15 years ago? I was an acting Deputy Assistant Secretary at the State Department, with an inside view on the decision-making process. My colleagues in the department’s Intelligence and… Continue Reading