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Latest Hot Issues Articles
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Hot Issue – A Profile of Mahmud Mansur Nidal: The Alleged Dagestani Connection to Boston Bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev
In connection with the tragic events in Boston, some Western journalists have started pursuing sensational angles to the story concerning the purported ties between the alleged elder Boston Marathon bomber, Tamerlan Tsnarnaev, and a Dagestani militant who went by the name of Mahmud Mansur Nidal... MORE
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Hot Issue: After Chávez: Succession in Venezuela
Executive Summary After four consecutive presidential terms and fifteen years in office, Hugo Chávez died on March 5 leaving behind a mixed legacy. While his supporters proudly call him El Comandante and vow to continue his socialist revolution, others decry his parochial economic policies, which have left... MORE
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Hot Issue: The Arrest of Osama bin Laden’s Son-in-law
On Thursday, March 7, federal officials broke the news that Sulayman Jasim Abu Ghaith, Osama Bin Laden's son-in-law had been apprehended in Jordan and was slated to stand trial in federal court in New York City. Representative Peter King (R) of New York praised the... MORE
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Hot Issue: Was the Attack on Algerian Oil Facilities a Symptom of AQIM In-Fighting?
The hostage crisis at the gas plant facilities near In Aménas, in southeastern Algeria, ended on Thursday with major losses. Among the dozens of the dead or injured were Western as well as local Algerian workers, Islamist kidnappers and Algerian troops. It may still be... MORE
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Hot Issue: A Response to the Crusaders?: Defining the True Purpose and Origin of the Attack on In Aménas
As the Algerian government continues to control a haphazard and inconsistent flow of information from In Aménas, the site of this week’s dramatic hostage-taking by Islamist militants, there continues to be confusion over the number of hostages killed in an assault by Algerian security forces... MORE
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Hot Issue: New Arab-Kurdish Front Could Strengthen Assad
Summary Clashes between Kurdish militias and armed Syrian opposition groups in Aleppo starting at the end of October in Ras al-Ayn near the Turkish border have raised the specter of a possible Arab-Kurdish civil war in Syria. An Arab-Kurdish civil war would weaken the efforts... MORE
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Hot Issue – The Face of Egypt’s Next Revolution: The Madinat Nasr Cell
A raid by Egyptian security forces in a suburb of Cairo on October 24 revealed an unexpected intersection of several important threads in the evolving security situation in the Middle East, including a possible revival of domestic terrorism in Egypt, the attacks on U.S. diplomatic... MORE
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HOT ISSUE: Traits and Orientations of China’s New Politburo Standing Committee
On November 15, China announced the seven members of the Political Bureau Standing Committee of the 18th Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee. These seven members, led by CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping, will form China’s supreme ruling council for the next five years. The... MORE
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Hot Issue – Could Benghazi Embassy Deaths Be a Harbinger of Al-Qaeda’s “Fourth Generation Warfare”?
This year, the anniversary of the al-Qaeda 9/11 attacks on the United States was marred by a series of demonstrations against American diplomatic missions, beginning in Egypt and quickly spreading to Libya, ultimately covering a band of Muslim communities from the United Kingdom to Australia.... MORE
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Hot Issue — Voice of Russia Campaigns for Removal of Romanian President Basescu
Executive Summary While the Romanian state has been struggling with a constitutional crisis pitting President Traian Basescu against the Social-Liberal Union (SLU) government of Victor Ponta, the Kremlin mouthpiece Voice of Russia has increasingly been instigating and drawing out the conflict. President Basescu survived the... MORE