Who we are

Alastair Crooke is Director of Conflicts Forum, a small geo-political and geo-financial consultancy, and adviser to a number of larger geo-financial entities. He was formerly advisor on Middle East issues to Javier Solana, the EU Foreign Policy Chief. He was also a staff member of Senator George Mitchell’s Fact Finding Committee that inquired into the causes of the Intifada (2000-2001) and an adviser to the International Quartet. He initiated a number of ceasefires in the Occupied Territories on behalf of the European Union and has 35 years experience of working with Islamist movements. He is author of Resistance: The Essence of the Islamist Revolution (2009) and a forthcoming book addressing the metaphysics to our present global anguish. He is a regular media commentator on politics and geo-financial issues.

Aisling Byrne is Director of Projects & Communications with Conflicts Forum. She was previously a Social Development Specialist with UNRWA in Amman, Syria and the West Bank, and worked as an organizational development consultant with a number of public bodies and international agencies in the UK. She holds a BA & MA from Balliol College, Oxford University (Politics, Philosophy & Economics), an MA from the School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London (Middle East History) and spent a year in Jerusalem as a Rotary Foundation Scholar. She has written various policy reports and articles in Foreign Policy, Asia Times, Counterpunch, and with Conflicts Forum.