On May 16, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Washington with four issues on his agenda: the crisis in Syria; the future of Turkish-Israeli relations; Turkish-Iraqi relations, in which the Kurdish question and energy issues were the top priority; and a Transatlantic Trade and... MORE

On April 21–24, Azerbaijani Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmar Mammadyarov visited Israel. This was the first visit of a high-ranking official of Azerbaijan to this country since Baku became independent. During his trip, Mammadyarov held several meetings with the Israeli leadership, including President Shimon Peres,... MORE

Turkmenistani President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov made a state visit to Kazakhstan on May 10–11. Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev said that his counterpart’s visit “demonstrates the mutual desire to develop these fraternal relations and raise trade and economic relations to a new level” (Trend, May 10). Berdimuhamedov... MORE

With the militarization of the Syrian uprising complete, the makeup of the violent insurrection that is raging across Syria remains a topic of scrutiny. The assemblage of competing opposition forces persists in its attempts to coalesce a viable political front to challenge the Ba’athist regime,... MORE

Two men were charged in Canada on April 23 with conspiring to commit murder and terrorism in relation to an alleged plot to derail a Canadian passenger train providing service to and from New York City. Though the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) maintained the... MORE

Last-minute efforts during recent meetings with President Vladimir Putin by British Prime Minister David Cameron, his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu and United States Secretary of State John Kerry to dissuade Russia from shipping modern, long-range anti-aircraft S-300 missiles to Syria have all dismally failed. A... MORE

Russia has captured much political attention in the West in the last few days because of its allegedly central role in the deadlocked civil war in Syria. Yet, in the domestic debates—boiling hot despite the holiday season—Syria is barely present, while the major point of... MORE

March 19 marked the ten-year anniversary of the United States invasion of Iraq that toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. Although the international community continues to focus on the violence plaguing post-war Iraq and the country’s oil production capacity, changes in Iraqi foreign policy in... MORE

As the Syrian Civil War enters its second year, the Popular Committees (Lija’an Sha’abiya), local defense forces supported by the Syrian military, are taking on an increasingly important role in the country’s conflict. The Popular Committees (sometimes referred to as “Peoples’ Committees”), were reportedly organized... MORE

Yemen’s president, Abd Rabbu Mansur Hadi, has hastened the pace of political change in Yemen with a series of decrees intended to restructure the national armed forces (Yemen Post, April 11). Not only have the April 10 decrees reshaped the Yemeni military system, but Hadi’s... MORE