Latest Articles about Middle East
MEDVEDEV RESTRUCTURES THE INTERIOR MINISTRY
President Dmitry Medvedev has launched a reorganization of Russia’s Interior Ministry that some observers say raises it in importance above the country’s other “power” agencies and ministries and could presage a stepped-up campaign against the Kremlin’s critics and political opponents under the guise of fighting... MORE
RUSSIA ASSEMBLES ITS ALLIES AND PONDERS THE CONTENT OF ITS “PRIVILEGED INTERESTS”
The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has never amounted to much as an alliance which ties Russia with six post-Soviet states: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Its summit in Moscow last Friday, however, was perhaps the most important event in the 16 years... MORE
RUSSiANS DOUBT OBJECTIVITY OF OFFICIAL MEDIA WHILE SHARING THEIR SENTIMENTS
A national poll conducted by the independent Levada Center over August 15-22 – that is, in the immediate wake of the five-day Russo-Georgian war – found a high degree of anti-Western and particularly anti-American sentiment. A total of 75 percent of the respondents stated that... MORE
Murky Past of Turkey’s Gendarmerie Intelligence Emerges in Ergenekon Investigation
In late August, the Turkish media reported that retired Colonel Arif Dogan had confessed to being the founder of the intelligence wing of the Turkish Gendarmerie, known in Turkish as the Jandarma Istihbarat ve Terorle Mucadele (JITEM - Gendarmerie Intelligence and Anti-Terror), a controversial security... MORE
Attacks in Yemen Reflect al-Qaeda’s Global Oil Strategy
Recent attacks by al-Qaeda’s Yemeni branch, Kataeb Jund al-Yemen (Soldiers of Yemen Brigades), against oil facilities across Yemen indicate that al-Qaeda’s larger strategy to strike oil targets remains a top priority. On June 30 the group took credit for rocket attacks against an oil refinery... MORE
The Mumahidun: Muqtada Al-Sadr’s New Militia
The Mahdi Army, the Shia militia loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr, has recently undergone a significant transformation. On August 28, al-Sadr suspended the armed operations of the Mahdi Army (al-Jazeera, August 28). Al-Sadr's latest statement on the Mahdi militia follows a similar call in early August... MORE
FURTHER RUSSIAN MILITARY ACTION IS POSSIBLE
After the EU summit on September 1 in Brussels, French President Nicolas Sarkozy told a press conference, "All of Europe is united" against Moscow's behavior in Georgia. "We can't go back to the age of spheres of influence; Yalta is behind us," stated Sarkozy, referring... MORE
OPPOSITION LEADERS WARN THAT RUSSIA FACES INTERNATIONAL ISOLATION
Leading members of Russia’s marginalized liberal opposition have issued a statement criticizing the Russian government’s recognition of the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The statement, which was published by the Internet newspaper Yezhednevny zhurnal, was signed by, among others, Garry Kasparov, chairman... MORE
THE POST-WAR TRAJECTORY OF RUSSIA-EU NON-PARTNERSHIP
Very few features of the “five-day war” between Russia and Georgia testify to the proposition that common political sense prevailed over military opportunism: Russian tanks stopped outside Tbilisi; the Russian Navy did not try to blockade Batumi; and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline was left undamaged. The... MORE
Responsibility for Bombings in Western Turkey Disputed by PKK and the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons
Two terrorist attacks committed in Turkish port cities in only three days, one in Mersin (on the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey) on August 19 and the second in Izmir (formerly known as Smyrna, on the Aegean Sea) on August 21, have highlighted the difficulty... MORE