Latest Articles about Middle East
LOCALS BELIEVE RUSSIAN MILITARY IS POISONING CHECHEN CHILDREN
Last December 7, Taisa Minkailova, a 13-year-old Chechen girl from the village of Starogladkovskaya in the Shelkovskoy District of Northern Chechnya, complained of health problems. She was gasping for air, experiencing convulsions and headaches, and her limbs became numb. Her parents brought her to a... MORE
RUSSIAN RAILWAYS FEARS LOOSING OIL SHIPMENTS TO CHINA
Russian Railways (RZD), a state-owned monopoly, has been eyeing crude oil shipments to China as a key element of its Far Eastern development. But now RZD is concerned over prospects of loosing lucrative oil freight business to the planned Pacific oil pipeline. RZD's strategic priority... MORE
TEHRAN ANNOUNCES NEW NUCLEAR DEAL WITH MOSCOW, BUT CONTENT IS RERUN OF OLD ARGUMENTS
On Sunday, February 26, Tehran announced an agreement about creating an Iranian-Russian joint venture to enrich uranium. Despite the fanfare, the deal does not represent a genuine agreement that overcomes the crisis generated by Iran's violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. In fact, both sides concede... MORE
Al-Qaeda’s Insurgency Doctrine: Aiming for a “Long War”
Conventional national militaries train, think, and fight according to their doctrine. To date, however, America and the West have not sufficiently appreciated that al-Qaeda, too, is fighting the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan according to a doctrine of its own. That doctrine has been developed... MORE
TRAGEDY AT MOSCOW MARKET REVEALS XENOPHOBIA AMONG RUSSIAN PUBLIC
On February 23 the roof over Moscow's Basmanny market collapsed from a combination of snow buildup and questionable construction. Two years ago a similar accident took place at the Transvaal water park in Moscow, taking the lives of 28 people. Both projects had the same... MORE
AS EUROPE EMBRACES ENERGY CONSERVATION, MOSCOW LOOKS TO ASIA’S GROWING DEMAND
Russia has reiterated plans to diversify its oil and natural gas exports with a growing focus on the Asia-Pacific region. In the near future, the main instrument of the Kremlin's strategy to re-orient hydrocarbon exports from Europe to Asia remains the planned oil pipeline from... MORE
KHRUSHCHEV’S SECRET SPEECH AND PUTIN’S PUBLIC PRAISE
Besides the Olympic headlines, in the last two weeks the Russian media has presented a remarkable variety of comments and reflections on an event that shocked the country 50 years ago. On February 14, 1956, the 20th Communist Party Congress opened in Moscow. It proceeded... MORE
MOSCOW STUNG BY GEORGIAN RESOLUTION ON SOUTH OSSETIA
Predictably, Moscow has unleashed a psychological warfare offensive in response to the Georgian Parliament's February 15 resolution on replacing Russia's "peacekeeping" operation in South Ossetia with an international peacekeeping operation (see EDM, February 15). In that resolution's aftermath, Kremlin consultant Gleb Pavlovsky -- speaking on... MORE
Yemen’s Passive Role in the War on Terrorism
For the past five years, Yemen has been what is best described as a passive partner in the U.S.-led war on terrorism. It has taken a number of steps to limit the activities of al-Qaeda and other like-minded groups within the country, but most of... MORE
Saudi Oil Facilities: Al-Qaeda’s Next Target?
At a time of record-high oil prices, analysts are beginning to consider the implications of possible terrorist attacks on Middle Eastern oil facilities. The crown jewel of these facilities is Saudi Arabia's oil production infrastructure. It is worth noting that Saudi Arabia possesses 261.9 billion... MORE