Latest Articles about Middle East
MONGOL PRESIDENT PAYS UNEVENTFUL VISIT TO MOSCOW
While visiting Russia from December 4 to December 10, Mongolian President Nambaryn Enkhbayar reiterated pledges to strengthen economic ties with Moscow. However, similar official pronouncements in the past have so far failed to generate any breakthrough in bilateral relations. At a meeting in the Kremlin... MORE
The Kurdish Security Network in Northern Iraq
In spite of escalating violence in Iraq, the very region that served as the gateway for al-Qaeda in Iraq is now one of the most secure areas in the country. Iraqi Kurdistan, formally the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), has taken the opposite trajectory than most... MORE
Accusations Fly After the Pierre Gemayel Assassination
In the aftermath of the war with Israel, Hezbollah and its allies (the Shiite Amal Party and Christian leader General Michel Aoun) are struggling to depose the Lebanese government of Sunni Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and his March 14 coalition of anti-Syrian Sunni, Druze and... MORE
Turks Join the Jihad in Iraq and Afghanistan
While it is a long held maxim that Turkey is "with" the West in the war on terrorism—especially after the 2003 Istanbul bombings—the invasion of Iraq has made anti-Americanism vogue in Turkey. Some Turks believe that Jews blew up the World Trade Center and that... MORE
WILL ECONOMIC SANCTIONS BECOME A LEGITIMATE TOOL OF RUSSIAN FOREIGN POLICY?
Russian lawmakers appear to have confirmed the Kremlin’s move to legitimize economic sanctions as an established instrument of the country’s increasingly muscular foreign policy. The jury is still out, however, as to whether this tool will be effective. On December 6 Russia’s State Duma voted... MORE
Islamist Websites Succeed in Recruiting Muslims for Jihad
Jihadi leaders continue to establish new websites on the internet by which they spread their ideology and identify users who can be recruited for the global jihad. If preaching and disseminating fanatical and extreme ideas on the internet is itself a concern, the use of... MORE
TRANS-BLACK SEA PIPELINE CAN BRING CASPIAN GAS TO EUROPE
A New York-based consortium of several independent parties is completing the pre-feasibility study for a Georgia-Ukraine-European Union (GUEU) gas pipeline project. Led by the London-based Pipeline Systems Engineering (PSE) and the New-York-based Radon-Ishizumi consulting and engineering firms, the project envisages bringing Caspian gas to EU... MORE
THE POLONIUM TRAIL LEADS TO MOSCOW
Officials investigating the lethal poisoning of former Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officer Alexander Litvinenko in London have widened their inquiry to Moscow. U.K. Home Secretary John Reid told reporters, "British police will be going to Russia to continue their inquiries," and he vowed that... MORE
OSCE: END OF YEAR BRINGS END OF ROAD AS SECURITY ACTOR
The OSCE’s year-end conference, which opened on December 4 in Brussels, foundered again as it has every year since 2001 on the main unresolved European security problem: Russian forces in Georgia and Moldova and the related status of the treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe... MORE
RUSSIA SEES SCO AS POTENTIAL ENERGY CARTEL
Facing mounting Western accusations of aggressive behavior in the energy sector, Moscow is turning eastward in search of more friendly energy partners. One potential source is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Alexander Lukin, director of the Center of East Asian and SCO Studies of the... MORE