Photo Source: World News Links By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront S aif al Islam, late  Muammar Gaddafi’s son,  is likely to re-emerge in the Libyan political scene that appears fractured. A militia group based in the Libyan city of Zintan has set him free since June 2017. Saif al Islam had been released under ‘General Amnesty Law’ passed by the Libyan House of Representatives. At this juncture, it will be crucial to ponder on his intents. He wants to initiate a peace mission, but international law has a different story to tell about his past political actions. In 2011, he had quelled a rebellion against the ruling regime of his father. Before the 2011 civil war, he was believed to be a moderate, unlike his deceased father.                A court in Tripoli has sentenced him to death in absentia two years back. He had been facing an arrest warrant from the International C...

Source: Google Images By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront With over $5 trillion of trade passing through the South China Sea, the strategic importance of this sea route continues to dominate. Any political volatility would not only harm the countries in a territorial dispute but also larger trading economies in the area like Japan and South Korea.  In fact, it is a place where all global trade converges.  South China Sea dispute is not only about oil and natural gas, but also about enormous fishing reserves. International media has mostly given attention to this trade route when any natural catastrophe has occurred.  In its quest for naval expansion and defence, Chinese State has already deployed more SSN nuclear submarines and SSBN ballistic missile submarines in the region, from Qingdao in the north, across the Yellow Sea from South Korea to Yulin, on Hainan Island in heart of South China Sea. It seems that China wants to e...

Photo Source: The Economist By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront W hen Islamic extremism spilt over to Europe, after 9/11 attacks, the Islamic war had truly become global. Britain, France, Germany and Spain were attacked mercilessly and randomly. But Italy has all along avoided the Islamic war on its soil. However, the rising threats of Islamic war that Italy can face in future can no longer be undermined. In August 2017, when a video was circulated by al-Hayat, a pro-ISIS organisation based in the war-ravaged city of Marawi, Philippines, the ISIS sympathisers threatened Vatican and Rome, while tearing the image of Pope Francis in a sacked Roman Catholic Church. The video had been directed towards jihadi sympathisers based in Italy that showed militants wrecking statues of Jesus, Mary, St. Joseph and ripping pictures of Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI. A graphic illustration of a young man holding a knife with Italian phrase ‘Devi Combatterl...

By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront ANGELA MERKEL’S ACHIEVEMENT in winning four consecutive federal elections in Germany was remarkable by any democratic standard. Few leaders in modern Europe have managed such longevity in office. Yet remaining in power for so long should not be confused with unqualified success or ideological clarity. Merkel’s leadership was defined less by sweeping vision than by caution, pragmatism, and an ability to endure crises without fully owning their long-term consequences. Her strength lay in survival rather than transformation, and this distinction is crucial to any serious assessment of her legacy. Internationally, Merkel was often portrayed as a moral counterweight to the rise of authoritarian leaders. In the Anglo-American press she was frequently described as a stabilising figure and, following the election of Donald Trump in 2016, was often characterised as a potential ‘leader of the free world’—a label she herself never embraced. The phrase...

By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront P resident of Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte has extended martial law in the southern part of his country until 31 December 2017. He thinks that the red brigade of communists and the liberals are making conspiracies to oust him.  More importantly, to tackle the rise of Islamic State in the southern part of his country, he has made his political intentions even clearer. Although, several unhappy Filipinos have recently burned several of his effigies in Manila, near the Mendiola Bridge. The protestors likened him to ‘Hitler’, ‘Marcos’ and a ‘lapdog of US imperialism.’ It had been a couple of his close military associates, who had advised him to impose the martial law. In several of his public declarations, he had vowed to end this martial law after the end of fighting in Marawi, located in Mindanao, the second largest island of Philippines. Marawi is a densely populated city and has become an easy breeding pl...