Latest Articles about Europe
Turkish Generals Admit Military and Intelligence Coordination with Iran
On June 6, General Ilker Basbug, the commander of the Turkish Land Forces, confirmed that Turkey and Iran were sharing intelligence and coordinating military operations against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)—which is primarily composed of Turkish Kurds—and its Iranian affiliate, the Kurdistan Free Life Party... MORE
AUSTRIAN GOVERNMENT, OMV JOINING GAZPROM’S SOUTH STREAM PROJECT, UNDERCUT NABUCCO
The Austrian government and the OMV oil and gas company are about to join Russia’s South Stream gas pipeline project, Gazprom Vice-President Aleksandr Medvedev announced during the St. Petersburg Economic Forum on June 7. Gazprom’s South Stream is a rival to the US-backed, EU top-priority... MORE
BALTIC SEA COUNTRIES’ SUMMIT FACES ENERGY SECURITY CHALLENGES
The Council of Baltic Sea Countries, the main cooperation forum of the Baltic’s nine riparian countries plus Norway, Iceland and the European Commission, held a summit at the prime-ministerial level on June 3 and 4 in Riga. Despite the ample advance notice for this event,... MORE
IS GAZPROM MANEUVERING TO OBTAIN ROMANIAN ALUMINUM?
Romania’s important aluminum industry has long held an attraction for Russian companies. Two years ago their efforts came to the attention of the Romanian Intelligence Service (Serviciului Român de Informaţii), the SRI, which viewed these initiatives with growing concern. A 2006 memo from the SRI... MORE
Freeing Jerusalem: Turkey and the Lebanese Hizbullah
Newly launched peace talks between Syria and Israel mediated by Turkey have focused the international community’s attention on Turkey’s role in the Middle East. Political observers have been cautiously awaiting whether the attempt would bring any hope for Middle East peace. The head of the... MORE
WILL TYMOSHENKO OBEY NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL?
The government of Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko will have to revise its decision to banish the U.S. company Vanco from the oil and gas fields in the Ukrainian part of the Black Sea. The Ukrainian Prosecutor-General’s Office (GPU) has ordered the government to restore... MORE
IS UKRAINE RETURNING TO KUCHMA-ERA REPRESSION?
In a television interview on May 20 Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko raised the stakes in her worsening relations with President Viktor Yushchenko by bringing up the question of impeaching the president if a continuing investigation into the Vanco contract (see EDM, May 21) finds proof... MORE
OIL REFINERY CONSTRUCTION PROJECT EXAMINED AT THE KYIV ENERGY SUMMIT
The Energy Summit in Kyiv (see EDM, May 28, 29) looked at a detailed proposal for construction of a refinery in Ukraine to process Caspian oil. The underlying idea is to reduce Russia’s strong influence on Ukraine’s refining industry and oil-product market by building a... MORE
Turkey Launches Economic Offensive against PKK Recruitment
On May 27, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced over $15.5 billion in additional state funding to complete the Southeast Anatolian Project (GAP), a huge irrigation and hydroelectric scheme in nine predominantly Kurdish provinces in southeastern Turkey. Speaking in Diyarbakir, the largest city in... MORE
Is Iran’s Mujahideen-e-Khalq a Threat to the Islamist Regime?
The People’s Mujahideen of Iran (PMOI), more commonly known as the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (“people’s mujahideen”; MEK), is one of the most organized and controversial Iranian opposition groups. Although it maintains an armed wing—known as the National Liberation Army (NLA)—and numerous front organizations, it derives its greatest... MORE