Silent Lonesome Man

Politically, when we look about journalism, we may expect every journalist to have the same degree of respect to each other, even when their affiliation may complicate the matter. Not this time though. Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian American journalist of Catholic background, had been shot dead by an unknown assailant on 11 May 2022, when she was covering news from Jenin, which had been recently besieged by the Israeli special forces hunting for Palestinians suspected of being terrorists. Her past was also interesting, she gained American citizenship from her maternal parents but she felt belonged to Palestine instead, and chose the journalist path. But in a faithful encounter, she enrolled herself to Al Jazeera in 1997. By that time, Al Jazeera was still a baby TV channel, established a year ago and used the staff from the already closed BBC Arabic branch in Riyadh that relocated to Qatar. And Shireen's role was far more important than expected: her journalist activities have ma...

No, we are not talking about the recent 2022 World Cup qualification between two countries in the detail. And we do not talk about soccer (football) either. We are talking about politics. Two nations, one in West Asia, one in Southeast Asia. Both have nothing in common because of geography apart, they are also differed in religious nature. For the last 1,000 years, nothing has changed. But within the recent frameworks, one can conclude that they are closer than we thought of. These are the stories of two entities: Saudi Arabia and Vietnam, both far apart, yet ironically drawn together due to somehow, American interests. And this is a unique case that need to be examined - or, to be frank, why would Vietnam aim to be like Saudi Arabia? Saudi-American relations To go forth, we have to begin with the relationship between the Middle Eastern Kingdom and the States. The United States had little to none of interests toward the Saudis when the Kingdom was announced in 1932, the same year Saudi...

Already we have seen how the situation played out, already two teams have booked places in Qatar, and there shall be a potential third, fourth and maybe a fifth to qualify. Group A Lebanon vs Syria Lebanon 's 1-1 draw to Iraq in Sidon had effectively crippled the Lebanese from dreaming further for the World Cup, as their distance with the UAE is now just a win. However, Lebanon can still think about it, in case the Lebanese can ever obtain wins in the next two games while the UAE fail against Iraq and South Korea. This is possible for the first task, as the upcoming opponent for Lebanon is Syria , a team that has been, alongside Iraq, winless after eight games. This is the chance for Lebanon to gain their first-ever home win, already been beaten painfully by Iran, South Korea, the UAE before only won a point after facing Iraq. While the H2H is not totally favourable, with just five wins out of 24 meetings, the Lebanese have been undefeated against Syria since 2013 (3W, 1D). With Vi...

Recent reports from various media outlets indicated that growing dissatisfaction toward the Joe Biden Administration among the Saudi government of the young Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has led the Crown Prince to shun the U.S. President. This is extremely relevant when Putin's Russia waged an invasion on Ukraine, when the Crown Prince, by a shock move, ghosted Biden but responded to a call by the Russian dictator. Riyadh has demonstrated clearly that it will not respond to any American attempt calling for help unless the United States realigned its policy to Saudi interests, and to further enhance the economic threat, Saudi Arabia has even extended its invitation to Chinese leader Xi Jinping to visit the country and moving toward using Chinese yuan in foreign trade exchange instead of U.S. dollar. President Biden could only make calls with the Crown Prince's father, King Salman . Yet the move of MBS could not come at the time when everything is not in favour of the Crown...

On 20 February 2022, in the tourist islands-nation Maldives, two women's teams, both are less known to the world, marched into the pitch of Rasmee Dhandu Stadium in the capital Malé. That was no normal match however. It was a historic debut of the women's team of Saudi Arabia, the Middle Eastern Kingdom known for being strict and repressive toward women for decades. The opponents, Seychelles, is also a pretty less known African team, both in men's and women's level. In the end, the conservative met the unknown, and Saudi Arabia triumphed 2-0, courtesies by a corner kick strike from Al-Bandari Mubarak before Mariam Al-Tamimi doubled the lead. These ladies were the first-ever scorers for Saudi Arabia. 16 players were granted their historic debuts. Pelé, the greatest statue of international football, offered a congratulation on Twitter . When you get the congratulations from the Brazilian legend, it is certain that the country has won certification. Yet as CNN pointed out ...

The February stage of the qualification in Asia has already witnessed teams that qualified, and teams that won't. How would it play out, though, is still on the hand. Group A Iran vs United Arab Emirates The 1-0 win in Tehran over arch-rival Iraq means Iran has officially become the first team in Asia to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar, a complete turn around from the earlier troubles of the second round. Such remarkable turn around ensures Iran as the most powerful national team in Asia and a signal for any opponent to not underestimate the Iranian resolute. This is best seen with Iran's ability to deliver goals in necessary moments, as well as having an extremely capable defence since the arrival of Croatian  Dragan Skočić, conceding just three goals in process. Although Iran's World Cup record is anything but rosy, having never progressed beyond the group stage, the Iranians would try to obliterate its opponents to celebrate the revival of its fortune. This makes the...

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, FIFA had made a radical change, allowing nations to schedule games in January and February 2022, and this could be very necessary to speed up the upcoming World Cup qualification. Asia, in particular, has some benefits from such a schedule, but, how far will it go? Let's move by groups. Group A Iran vs Iraq Iran 's surprising resurgence in the third round, which Iran u-turned its second round misery, has really put the Group A into a closer conclusion that Iran will be able to achieve a place in Qatar. Although scepticism remains high throughout Iran's real quality when it comes to the World Cup, having never survived the group stage before, but right now, Iranians could focus to an early celebration. Contrast to Iran, its neighbouring rival Iraq has been unable to demonstrate the same form it used to be in the second round, being winless after six matches, including two heavy defeats to powerhouses Iran and South Korea earlier (both 0-3). To ...