Latest Articles about Europe
Turkey’s Choice with Barzani: The Gun or the Olive Branch
Shortly after the Turkish National Assembly passed a resolution authorizing the Turkish army to enter northern Iraq, President Massoud Barzani of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq (KRG) replied: “If they invade there will be war.” Barzani added: “We are not a threat to Turkey... MORE
CRIMEAN TATARS CLASH WITH POLICE OVER LAND
Ethnic tension has increased in Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula as the authorities move to tackle the problem of Crimean Tatar squatters occupying local plots of land. In early November, Tatars were forcibly evicted from two construction sites that, according to the Crimean authorities and the local... MORE
PJAK Faces Turkish-Iranian Storm
The last year has seen steadily increasing violence between Turkey and the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK). On October 21, 2007 a group of PKK fighters killed 12 Turkish soldiers and captured eight others in an attack in southeastern Turkey. Since then Turkey has called on... MORE
UN/African Union Peacekeepers in Darfur Unlikely to Succeed
Despite optimistic predictions, the expected deployment of the “hybrid” United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur (UNAMID) is in peril. It now seems there will be no peace to keep and no mandate capable of imposing it. Sudan is insisting that African troops comprise most... MORE
Uzbek Terror Networks: Germany, Jamoat and the IJU
Three months after the arrests of three men in Germany, little is known about the network involved or the reasons behind a plot to use “massive bomb attacks” against targets in Germany. Reports immediately after the arrests pointed toward a U.S. airbase, nightclubs and the... MORE
Foreign Jihadis Face Deportation in Bosnia-Herzegovina
After roughly 15 years of neglect, Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) politicians and the country's Islamic community, each for its own reasons, have nearly simultaneously adopted a harsher approach toward former Islamic fighters who fought on the Bosnian side during the 1992-1995 war. Since the end of... MORE
YUSHCHENKO WANTS TRANSPARENT ENERGY DEALS WITH MOSCOW
Russia’s top officials are loudly complaining about Kyiv’s tactics in a bitter dispute over Ukraine’s Kremenchug refinery, pledging to defend the interests of the Russian shareholders there. The incident is just the latest irritant in an already uneasy energy relationship between the two neighbors. “I... MORE
Provision to Turkey of U.S. Intelligence on PKK Highlights Policy Shift
The 2007 edition of the annual offensive of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) against Turkey has displayed the group’s adaptability and its tenacity. It has included a multi-front strategy, with both urban terrorist-style attacks in cities such as Istanbul (Terrorism Focus, October 10) and the... MORE
IS BIG BROTHER WATCHING UKRAINIANS?
The Ukrainian government has simplified the procedure allowing the special services and police to procure confidential information about citizens. Ukrainian human rights activists and Internet providers believe that the government violated the constitution by legalizing widespread surveillance, giving the secret services almost unlimited access to... MORE
PRESIDENT’S PARTY IS WEAKEST LINK IN ORANGE COALITION
Friday, November 2, was the last day that the Our Ukraine-People’s Self Defense (NUNS) bloc could collect signatures to support a “democratic” (orange) coalition with the Yulia Tymoshenko bloc (BYuT). BYuT deputies have openly expressed their fear that disunity in NUNS will lead to an... MORE