Alastair Crooke

Alistair Crooke, is a former British diplomat and is the founder and director of the Beirut-based Conflicts Forum, an organisation that advocates for engagement between political Islam and the West.

October 20, 2026

Columns/Geopolitics

The French Protests Are Being Misunderstood

The French protests that are spreading over Europe are not receiving proper attention. The explanation that students all over France, with the disturbances spreading into Italy and Belgium, are burning down historic

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s illicit cigarette trade costs government Rs 29.5bn in lost tax revenue

Sri Lanka lost an estimated Rs 29.5 billion in potential tax revenue in 2025 because of illicit factory-made cigarette consumption, according to an economic assessment by Oxford Economics, which estimates that illegal products accounted for 20% of the market despite

October 20, 2026

Sri Lanka: Rising Prices and People’s Patience

Sri Lanka

A familiar storm gathers Sri Lanka’s inflation reached 8% in September 2026, above the Central Bank’s 3–7% target band for a third straight month,

Women’s Role in Peacekeeping Stalls Worldwide

Editor's Choice/Geopolitics

More than 25 years after the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, women’s representation in multilateral peace operations

1973 October War: Then and Now

October 6, 2023

World

The 1973 war in which Egyptian and Syrian forces were co-ordinated for the aim of launching a surprise attack on “Israel” — and in which the latter was tricked by an Egyptian

From G7 to G20: Hollow Talk Show?

November 28, 2022

Defence/Diplomacy/Geopolitics/United States

Recall the origin of the G20? The G7 had winnowed down to represent a very narrow slice of the financialised élite economy — whilst the global ‘things’ economy had grown to outsize