Latest Articles about Middle East
Major Arrests Highlight Security Situation in Saudi Arabia
On April 27, the Saudi Ministry of Interior announced that it had disrupted a large-scale and wide-ranging terrorist plot made up of seven cells, with plans to target oil facilities and military bases with hijacked airliners, stage assassinations and mount a prison break. Of the... MORE
ALIEN VANDALISM IN ESTONIA’S CAPITAL
The city of Tallinn is assessing the damage after two consecutive nights of violent rioting by gangs of mostly young local Russians. The third night passed relatively quietly. Ostensibly triggered by the expected relocation of the Red Army monument (the Bronze Soldier) from downtown Tallinn,... MORE
Turkey’s Coming Offensive Against the Iraqi-based PKK
The creation of a largely autonomous and peaceful "Kurdistan" in northern Iraq is often trumpeted as a major success in post-Baathist Iraq. Any progress made, however, toward an independent nation for the stateless Kurds creates great uneasiness in Turkey, Syria and Iran, all of which... MORE
Divisions Within the Iraqi Insurgency
With so many actors in the Iraqi insurgent theater, it is hard to keep track of the various permutations of militant Islamic groups and their alliances. It is going to become all the more difficult given recent splits and conflicts between and within indigenous Iraqi... MORE
IN FAREWELL ADDRESS, PUTIN DISTRIBUTES OIL MONEY
It was the “moratorium” on implementing the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty, a largely symbolic gesture of little practical consequence, that captured Western attention in Putin’s address to parliament on Thursday, April 26. The 72-minute speech (the longest in this genre) was, however, predominantly... MORE
RED ARMY MONUMENT REMOVED FROM TALLINN AMID MOSCOW-ENCOURAGED RIOTS
At 5 am on Friday, April 27, the Soviet-Russian occupation of Estonia ended in a symbolic sense with the removal of the Red Army monument known as the Bronze Soldier from downtown Tallinn. The expected event triggered riots by young local Russian hooligans and drunks... MORE
Kuwaiti Cleric Hamid al-Ali: The Bridge Between Ideology and Action
Hamid bin Abdallah al-Ali is an influential Salafi cleric in Kuwait. He is designated by the U.S. government as a global terrorism financier and supporter, yet his website is registered in Vancouver in Washington state. Figures such as al-Ali are critical to the education and... MORE
Shiite Power Struggle Unfolds in Diwaniya
Since the political bloc loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr abandoned the parliament and government ministries on April 16—in a move to demand Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki set a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops—the Sadrist movement now appears to be tilting toward a more militant... MORE
KREMLIN EXPANDS ECONOMIC INTERESTS IN NORTH KOREA
Few observers believe that Russia has played -- or is playing -- a major role in the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program. But this fact has not dissuaded Moscow from continuing to push for the realization of its interests insofar as the Korean... MORE
YELTSIN – THE MAN WHO CREATED CONTEMPORARY RUSSIA
Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin died of heart failure in a Kremlin hospital on Monday, April 23. He was 76. His successor, Vladimir Putin, and other Russian and international dignitaries expressed their condolences, praised Yeltsin for creating a new democratic Russia, and many plan to... MORE