In Depth

Just finished watching the HBO Max sci-fi mini-series Station Eleven (2021) and, what can I say. It’s like watching experimental theatre. Brilliant performances but nothing makes any sense! By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD Don’t take my word for it. The star of the show and not coincidentally one of my …

Vaccine mandates in the United States, and a push for mandatory vaccination in various European countries. Western governments are ignoring independent scientific reports of dangers and side effects of mass vaccination of the healthy population.By Arthur BlokThe most reports are ringing the alarm bells on elevated deaths of vaccinating people …

Tensions at the Belarusian-Polish border show signs of easing, days after Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron made a deal on de-escalation of the migrant crisis. Although some refugees still attempt to illegally enter the European Union, many of them have already left the border area.By …

The Levant News Exclusive – By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD Dr. Sophia Rose Arjana, please introduce yourself to our readers. Your education, background and interests? I am an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Western Kentucky University. My department home is the Department of History. I hold a BA in Pacific …

Natural gas prices keep hitting new records in Europe. The drop in supplies sparked a new wave of volatility across the European gas market, where transactions hit a ceiling of more than $1500 per thousand cubic meters. Which countries will suffer the most? By Nikola MikovicIt is a well-known fact …

It has been more than two months since Tunisian President Kais Saied took over all executive powers in the country. Wednesday he surprised friend and foe by suddenly appointing Najla Bouden Romdhane as the first female prime minister in Tunisia and the Arab world. A smart cosmetic move: how much …

Unlike neighboring countries, discussing corruption-related offences in Lebanon has rarely been a taboo. Those leading oppressive and extravagant regimes fail to realize they carry the seeds of their own failure. What is not always understood is how corruption bred from oppression affects the country’s social stability and security systems. By …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD … There are problems with costumes too and makeup and hairdos. The Harkonnens here are all bald, in emulation of the Baron. But in the original novel they are bronze blonds and have big lips, and in the old movie they are redish blond and …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD A number of factors worked against me enjoying this movie. I’m a fan of both Frank Herbert and the 1984 David Lynch movie, am hypersensitive about Hollywood politics and I’d recently watched two stunning movies that upped my expectations to breaking point. A wonderful fanedit[1] …

It goes without saying that it is not an easy skill and one has to be gifted to draw – political – cartoons. The Levant News’ own Joon W. (45) is a gifted cartoonist with a cynical sense of humor and has the talent of producing drawings that bring out …

As young people increasingly choose to emigrate in search of better opportunities, Serbia started facing labor shortages. Many entrepreneurs operating in the Balkan nation still refuse to pay relatively decent salaries, hoping that they will manage to hire foreign workers, mainly from Southeast Asia. By Nikola MikovicOfficially, the unemployment rate …

Empty hotels, empty beaches, bankrupt cafés and restaurants. The tourism industry in Southern Spain was hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic with the loss of over a billion in euros in revenue in 2020. In this unprecedented economic crisis there is still room for success proves Spanish entrepreneur Miguel Romero …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD     Just watched The Suicide Squad (2021) and while it is technically entertaining its way too long and way too confused and way too annoying, and way too gory. It just left you feeling frustrated, and empty. I was so perplexed I found myself …

United States and Germany reportedly made a wider deal over the controversial Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline. The project, which is 98 percent complete, is expected to have a negative impact on Ukraine, since the Eastern European country could stop playing the role of a regional gas hub. By …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD “The sooner we admit our capacity for evil the less apt we are to destroy each other. … People love seeing violence and horrible things. The human being is bad and he can’t stand more than five minutes of happiness. Put him in a dark …

The withdrawal of the US and NATO troops from Afghanistan threatens to destabilize Central Asia – a region that has traditionally been in the Russian sphere of influence.By Nikola MikovicThere are fears in the Kremlin that the Taliban, especially its radical fractions, could spoil some of Russia’s plans in neighboring …

Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to love playing “a good tsar and bad boyars” game. Such a strategy is nowhere more obvious than in the case of mandatory COVID-19 vaccination in several regions of the Russian Federation. By Nikola MikovicTraditionally, Russia has been ruled by tsars – be they monarchs, …

Nikol Pashinyan, the acting prime minister of Armenia, has claimed victory in a snap parliamentary election. The Armenian leader managed to stay in power despite the country’s catastrophic defeat in the 44-day war against Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh in the fall of 2020.By Nikola MikovicWhy did the Armenians vote for the …

Saudi Arabia is on a path of dramatic economic and social reforms. The reforms, launched by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, are aimed at modernizing the kingdom and are welcomed both nationally and internationally. Abir Abusulayman stands at the forefront of social reforms, in particular women’s right to choose. The …

Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to love skating on thin ice. In the past he negotiated the status of the Kuril Islands – which have been an integral part of Russia for over seventy years – with Japan, and now he is suggesting that the peace talks between Moscow and …

Mainstream media tend to portray Russia and the West as bitter geopolitical rivals. In reality, Moscow and Western powers often act as partners, especially when it comes to energy. By Nikola MikovicFollowing the Kremlin’s incorporation of Crimea into the Russian Federation in 2014, as well as Russia’s actions in the …

“The wheels of justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine”, Sun Tzu – a Chinese general, writer and philosopher – said almost 2500 years ago. In Serbia, where many litigations and trials have been around for decades, another concept seems to prevail: “Justice delayed is justice denied”. By Nikola MikovicAlthough …

Belarus could soon become a no-fly zone for most European airlines, as the Eastern European country strains relations with the West. Following the diversion of a Ryanair flight by the Belarusian authorities, and the arrest of Roman Protasevich – co-founder of anti-Lukashenko Nexta TV – several European capitals have already …

Black lives matter. A year after the killing of George Floyd it is now clear that the lives, safety and dignity of black men, women, and children all around the world are not what drives the organizers of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. It is hypocrisy that drives their engine. …

A second Nuremberg tribunal is being prepared under the aegis of thousands of lawyers worldwide behind the German lawyer Reiner Fuellmich. The German attorney is prosecuting all those responsible for the Covid-19 scandal used by the Davos Forum. Global officials will be prosecuted under the pretense that COVID 19 is …

For Armenia, Russia already proved to be an unreliable ally. The Kremlin seems to continue implementing its “balanced” policy in the Caucasus, trying to prevent any possible confrontations with Azerbaijan, while at the same time demanding from Yerevan to make painful concessions to Baku. By Nikola MikovicNikol Pashinyan, Armenia’s acting …

The “new Cold War” between the US and Russia in northeast Africa intensifies. Washington and Moscow struggle to increase their military presence in Sudan.By Nikola MikovicSudan reportedly decided to suspend an agreement granting Moscow permission to construct a naval base just north of Port Sudan, the country’s main commercial hub …

Ukraine is actively preparing for a potential conflict escalation in the coal-rich Donbass region that is currently controlled by the pro-Russian forces. Kiev sees Turkey as a strategic partner and is purchasing Turkish-made Bayraktar drones. What is Ankara’s position in this proxy-war?By Nikola MikovicAfter Western-backed opposition overthrew allegedly pro-Russian Ukrainian …

Tunisian Human Rights and LGTB activist Rania Amdouni tried to commit suicide Monday night at her home in Tunis just days after she was released from prison, sources close to The Levant News said. Amdouni was humiliated, intimidated and attacked by a group of police officers and arrested afterwards. In …

“Tunisian authorities should drop the charges against Rania Amdouni, a prominent women’s rights defender and LGBT activist”, said Hamza Nasri a Tunisian Human Rights activist and defender. Amdouni was sentenced to six months in prison last month for ‘insulting a public officer’.By Arthur BlokNasri is a member of the Tunisian …

In an open letter to World Health Organization (WHO) and in a follow-up video interview, Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche recently claimed that by vaccinating everyone with a vaccine that does not prevent transmission, we are destroying people’s immune systems, and setting the stage for a global health disaster. The WHO …

Serbia’s healthcare system is on the verge of collapse. Although the Balkan nation took one of the leading positions in Europe when it comes to the rate of vaccination against the novel coronavirus, hospitals are still full, the country lacks medical staff, and is facing a significant increase in deaths. …

The cargo ship Ever Given remains wedged across the Suez Canal, as rumors are flying that the accident that may have an enormous effect on the global economy was staged. Is there a link between the Russian submarine Rostov-on-Don that went missing on March 13, the Israeli submarine passing the …

Emad El-Din Aysha: Dear Dr. Csicsery-Ronay Istvan. First please let me apologise for saying doctor. In Arabic countries we take such honorifics very seriously, even when speaking English. Secondly, please tell us something about yourself. Where you teach, your background? What drew you to science fiction and specifically non-Anglophone SF? …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD     The very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world. — George Orwell       An American friend, a very lovely lady friend to be specific, encouraged me to watch Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019)[1] recently. I’d avoided any of …

Ever since leaders of Russia and Ukraine signed the truce agreement in 2015, there have been rumors about a possible new war over the coal-rich Donbass region of Eastern Ukraine. Indeed, sooner or later hostilities between Russia-backed Donbass forces and Western-sponsored Ukraine will resume. Has the time come for this …

Armenia is facing a serious political turmoil. The country’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has accused top military officers of attempting a coup after the army reportedly demanded his resignation. How will the situation in the Caucasus unfold? By Nikola Mikovic Pashinyan has been in trouble after he fired a high-ranking …

Iran seeks to join the Russia-led Eurasian Union. The Islamic Republic already signed a free trade agreement with Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in October 2018 and now Tehran aims to additionally increase its business ties with this supranational entity. Are the EAEU member-states ready to let Iran into the post-Soviet …

“You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” Harvey Dent, district attorney of Gotham City said in “The Dark Knight”. Introducing a fatalistic idea that being a hero comes with a certain responsibility and is sometimes a dangerous task. For outsiders former …

Ukraine has been firmly in the United States’ sphere of influence ever since Maidan protests in 2013-2014, that resulted in the overthrow of the allegedly pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych. Even though the Kremlin-backed Opposition Platform for Life (OPFL) approval ratings are rising, there is no danger for the former Soviet …

Relations between Russia and the West are expected to go from bad to worse. As soon as Russian opposition politician and the Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was sentenced by a Moscow court to almost threes in a penal colony for breaking probation rules while in Germany, Western leaders called for …

The United States and the European Union will use the case of Alexey Navalny – Russia’s prominent opposition figure who has been detained upon his return to Moscow from Germany – as an additional pressure on the Kremlin. By Nikola Mikovic Sanctions against Russia will grow, even if Russian authorities …

In a statement released mid-December the World Health Organization (WHO) finally admitted what 10’s of thousands of doctors and medical professionals around the globe have been saying for months: the PCR test used to diagnose COVID-19 is unsuitable and creates way too many false positives. If the PCR test is …

Authoritarian tendencies in Central Asia continue to grow. The region lacks democratic traditions and its clan-based societies overwhelmingly prefer some form of despotism rather than Western liberal democracy. By Nikola Mikovic Voters in Kyrgyzstan recently decided to abandon parliamentary democracy. The former Soviet republic is returning to the presidential political …