Latest Articles about Middle East

PUTIN REPORTEDLY SIDES WITH ALKHANOV—FOR NOW

Kommersant published an article on May 6 confirming that the Kremlin had sided with Chechen President Alu Alkhanov following the reported shoot-out between members of his security service and members of security forces loyal to Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov (see Chechnya Weekly, May 4).... MORE

Al-Suri’s Treatise on Musharraf’s Pakistan

Ayman al-Zawahiri's new video release, titled "Message to the People of Pakistan," closely meshes with the work of Abu Musab al-Suri (also known as Mustafa Setmariam Nasar), one of the chief political thinkers of al-Qaeda, who was arrested last November in Pakistan (Terrorism Focus, March... MORE

Reinforcing the Mujahideen: Origins of Jihadi Manpower

Much is written about how non-indigenous, would-be Islamist fighters enter the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan to join the mujahideen fighting U.S.-led coalitions in both countries. Do they enter Afghanistan from Pakistan? Or Iran? Perhaps Central Asia? What about Iraq? Which border is the most... MORE

CHENEY VISIT SPOTLIGHTS KAZAKHSTAN’S PIVOTAL ROLE

U.S. Vice President Richard Cheney's May 5-6 visit to Astana -- and an overlapping visit by European Union Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs there -- achieved a long-overdue rebalancing of Western policy priorities regarding Kazakhstan and, by implication, the region as a whole. At the joint... MORE

AFTER VILNIUS, PUTIN HAS TO RECONSIDER HIS PROSPECTS

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney used his speech at last week's conference in Vilnius to address Russia in a blunt new tone. Prior to the conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin's advisers had assumed that the maximum extent of U.S. criticism had been set by the... MORE

VILNIUS CONFERENCE ON EUROPE’S COMPLETION IN THE EAST

U.S. Vice President Richard Cheney joined the presidents of the three Baltic states, Poland, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, and Georgia, as well as other high-level European officials, for a conference on "Common Vision for a Common Neighborhood" on May 3-4 in Vilnius. The common neighborhood... MORE