Author: Fazzur Rahman Siddiqui
In my previous article for Daily Sabah, I discussed the PKK’s involvement in the drug trade since its early days, tracing the routes of these transactions and highlighting the countries and groups that have contributed to the industry’s growth. In this following piece, I will explain how drug money is utilized and how political dynamics across the region have created a favorable environment for the PKK and its affiliates to thrive. Where does drug money go? The PKK plays a dominant role in Türkiye’s narcotics smuggling industry. Money earned through the drug trade constitutes one of the principal sources of…
Since regime leader Bashar Assad fled Syria on Dec. 8, 2024, after his quarter-century brutal rule, numerous stories of his barbarism have appeared in the media, offering accounts of the toxic nature of Syrian politics under him. The stories of Assad’s rule are not only about the death of thousands through torture and starvation, but it is also about how he ran a multibillion-dollar drug empire for his own economic embellishment and political survival. The principal drug that flourished under him was Captagon and around 80% of the world production of this “poor men’s drug,” or cocaine of the poor…
The first anniversary of Hamas’ attack against Israel passed last month, which killed around 1,200 Israelis and took 250 Israelis as hostages. What has continued to unfold following the Oct. 7 attack presents the most appalling scene in recent decades. As anticipated, Israeli forces launched an unprecedented military assault in Gaza, evolving the ongoing war into the deadliest conflict in the century-old Israel-Palestine tension. Today the Jewish state is employing all weapons in its arsenal except the nuclear bomb but ironically the outcome of the military strikes has surpassed the scale of the damage that a nuclear bomb could have…
Over the past decade, the orbit of global media has continued to shrink regarding the coverage or analysis of politics in the Arab world. Since the Arab uprising, one has witnessed how the political commentators and reporters on the ground tend to merely focus on the changing geopolitics in the region, the rise or fall of militias, the formation of alliances and counter-alliances, and the growing intervention of regional and global players. But in the race to fill the pages with the news of mayhem across the region, global media has perhaps overlooked the much darker plot of the scene…