Latest Articles about Middle East
MOSCOW EYES ENERGY IMPLICATIONS OF NORTHEAST ASIA’S CHANGING INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
As maneuvering continues around Russia's major oil and gas pipeline projects, Russian experts seek to clarify trends in the ongoing multilateral energy game. There appears to be a consensus that Siberia's hydrocarbon riches are set to become an important source of energy supplies for Northeast... MORE
PRIMAKOV’S VISIT TO THE MIDDLE EAST: HIGH PROFILE, FEW RESULTS
In recent months, Moscow has launched several foreign policy initiatives as part of an effort to recapture something of its vanished influence in the Middle East. Since 1991 Russian officials have periodically claimed that Arab leaders have solicited Moscow's return to the region to counterbalance... MORE
U.S.-RUSSIA RELATIONS: TURNING POINT OR DEAD END?
Clearly, the recent democratic transitions in Georgia and Ukraine have put the U.S.-Russia relationship under strain. The crucial factor in U.S.-Russia relations may now be the future evolution of the political system inside Russia. Thus far, the Bush administration has tended to turn a blind... MORE
KREMLIN REDEFINING POLICY IN “POST-SOVIET SPACE”
In a marathon-length press conference on February 3, Kremlin political consultant Gleb Pavlovsky laid certain Russian markers in Eurasia ahead of the George W. Bush-Vladimir Putin summit and, by the same token, seized the moment to announce a major redefinition of Russia's policy in the... MORE
RUSSIA’S CONFUSING PACIFIC OIL GAME
Although Moscow's East Asian policies have been eclipsed by the oil and gas game, the long saga of Russia's desire to create a Pacific oil pipeline, coupled with the controversial Yuganskneftegaz sell-off, have added a measure of confusion to Russia's ties with China. Last December,... MORE
RUSSIA-JAPANESE RELATIONS AT A FAMILIAR IMPASSE
Despite initial hopes that Russian President Vladimir Putin would visit Japan in March, the month is rapidly approaching without a date being set. Thirty years ago, at the height of detente, there was great hope for Russo-Japanese relations. The script then stated that, despite tense... MORE
ARE PUTIN’S REFORMS WORKING?
Over the past year, Russian President Vladimir Putin has completed a radical re-centralization of the Russian political system. Skeptics who doubted that he had the acumen and political support to conceive and implement such an agenda have been proved wrong. But now the question is:... MORE
IS RUSSIA ABOUT TO TURN ITS GAZE TOWARD THE EAST?
Three events this week indicate the fast-growing economic and geopolitical ties between Moscow and Beijing. The Russian government's announcement of a massive Chinese loan to Rosneft, a pledge by a Russian transportation giant to modernize its infrastructure to boost oil supplies to China, and a... MORE
TIES BETWEEN RUSSIA AND MONGOLIA STALL
Russian officials have claimed there are no problems in their relations with Mongolia, with which Russia shares a 3,500-kilometer-long border. However, despite official claims to the contrary, the once-close economic and political ties between the two Cold War allies have been sluggish for quite some... MORE
ANTI-SEMITISM AND THE RUSSIAN OLIGARCHS
On January 27 Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in the ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. On January 24, Associated Press received a copy of a letter to the procurator-general signed by 20 Russian lawmakers, calling for "the prohibition in... MORE