Author Archives: jonathanspyer

The war came in high summer. Paul Randawa was living in Florentin.  War was the last thing on his or his friends’ minds.  The beach and the bars, and late night parties and clubs were what everything was revolving around. … Continue reading →

Jerusalem Post, 20/8 Iranian regime and pro-Iranian media outlets reacted with enthusiasm to the attempted murder of British-Indian author Salman Rushdie last week.  Officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran have maintained a studious silence. But the main mouthpieces of both … Continue reading →

Jerusalem Post, 15/4 Nadia Hassan Suleiman remembers well the day she was arrested.  It was in Afrin City, north west Syria, in June 2018.  Her husband, Ahmed Rashid, had disappeared two months earlier.  She had received a voice message from … Continue reading →

The Australian, 16/4 Four terror attacks in the space of just over two weeks, with a total of 13 deaths  have brought the fraught atmosphere of the Second Intifada days back to the streets of Israel’s cities.  The tension is … Continue reading →

The Australian, 18/3 The people of Ukraine have repudiated the Russian President’s claim of their nation’s ‘artificiality.’  But larger matters remain to be settled.  Lviv War is the great transformer.  Everything has changed in Ukraine.  I last visited Lviv in … Continue reading →

Australian, 25/02. 06:00 Moscow time (UTC+3), on Thursday, February 24th, 2022, is likely to be remembered as one of those hinge moments on which history turns.  At that hour, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation with the goal … Continue reading →

Jerusalem Post, 18/2 Past Russian practices of deception and intimidation may offer clues as to the direction of events in Ukraine History moves in curious patterns. The countdown to the current fraught moment in Ukraine may be accurately identified.  It … Continue reading →

Jerusalem Post, 4/2 On June 21, 2021, a newly built mosque was inaugurated in the village of Sheikh Khurez, in north west Syria, close to the Turkish border.  Sheikh Khurez is located in the part of Syria under the nominal … Continue reading →

1/2 With the world focused on the crisis in Ukraine, a joint exercise in the Indian Ocean involving the navies of Iran, China and Russia passed largely un-noticed last week. The exercise, dubbed ‘2022 Marine Security Belt’ was the third … Continue reading →

Jerusalem Post, 21/1 A series of bomb and grenade attacks have taken place over the last week in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. They were directed at financial facilities and political offices associated with a  number of factions currently taking part … Continue reading →