Latest Articles about Europe
Turkey’s Islamic Raiders of the Greater East Seeking Ties with al-Qaeda?
On November 20, police in the Turkish city of Izmir arrested six suspected members of the Islamic Raiders of the Greater East – Front (IBDA-C). The detainees are alleged to have established links with al-Qaeda and to have been only days away from staging a... MORE
NEW YUSHCHENKO-TYMOSHENKO COALITION PASSES FIRST TESTS
The Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense bloc of Viktor Yushchenko (NUNS) and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT) have managed to set aside their differences and create a majority coalition in parliament. NUNS accepted Yushchenko’s choice for parliamentary speaker, and dissenters in Our Ukraine (NU), the... MORE
PRAISE AND CONDEMNATION OF STALIN: RUSSIA AND UKRAINE GO THEIR SEPARATE WAYS
On November 24-25 the Ukrainian authorities marked the 75th anniversary of the 1932-1933 famine. President Viktor Yushchenko, Acting Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, former President Leonid Kuchma, and other political leaders attended the ceremony. Writing in the Wall Street Journal on November 26, Yushchenko said, “The... MORE
WASHINGTON EXPANDS SANCTIONS ON BELARUS
On November 14, the United States Treasury announced financial sanctions on the Belnaftakhim gas and chemical conglomerate and its subsidiaries outside the country. With this maneuver, Washington expressed its dissatisfaction with the Belarusian government’s failure to improve the human rights’ situation within the country. It... MORE
DIFFERENCES IN OUR UKRAINE HINDER COALITION FORMATION
Ukraine’s new parliament opened on November 23 only to adjourn until November 29, as the absence of a more or less stable majority left it incapacitated, making it impossible to elect parliamentary leaders and form standing committees. This deadlock is due to serious differences within... MORE
PKK Leadership Under Pressure in the Post-Öcalan Era
Every year the number of attacks by and on the guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) mounts, seemingly by the day. Relatively infrequently, though, the world is permitted a glimpse of the PKK’s shadowy mid- and upper-level leadership figures, those who have recruited, trained... MORE
Strategic Implications for Northern Iraq’s Kurdish Oil Industry
Article 3, paragraph 3 of the Oil and Gas Law of the Kurdistan Region seems straightforward enough: “The Regional Government shall, together with the Federal Government, jointly manage Petroleum Operations … according to the provisions of the Federal Constitution” [1]. The law seems clear until... MORE
UKRAINIAN COALITION MAY NOT MATERIALIZE
The Ukrainian parliament elected on September 30 will gather for its first sitting on Friday, November 23. It should elect a speaker and start forming a new cabinet. The constitution requires the sitting cabinet of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych to step down before the new... MORE
Turkey’s Generals Speak out on Counter-Terrorism Strategies
Turkish journalist Fikret Bila has just released an important work based on interviews with a number of retired Turkish military commanders. Komutanlar Cephesi (The Commanders’ Position) examines the generals’ views on Turkey’s past and present security efforts. Excerpts from interviews with five retired generals were... MORE
THE EU COMMISSION BETWEEN MOL AND OMV: ANOTHER “SLEEPWALKING” CASE?
Italy’s ENI energy champion CEO Paolo Scaroni recently noted that the European Union was “sleepwalking” on energy policy. “It seems incredible that the EU, which debates and legislates every aspect of our existence, including the bends of cucumbers and curves of bananas, failed to spot... MORE