Latest Articles about Middle East
Tackling the PKK: New Directions for Turkey’s Special Forces
Recent counter-insurgency operations of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) in northern Iraq have once again brought to the forefront its highly trained Ozel Kuvvetler Komutanligi (OKK - Special Forces Command). The OKK deployment comes as Turkey reorganizes its large conscript army to create a smaller,... MORE
RUSSIAN TANKS WILL BE EQUIPPED WITH FRENCH IR TV
It was announced this week that two top Russian generals have been ousted: the chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff Alexander Rukshin and the chief of Armed Forces Communications Eugeny Karpov. It was reported that the resignation of the Chief of... MORE
MEDVEDEV’S FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER DENOUNCES BBC REPORT ON LITVINENKO MURDER
A report by BBC television news that British intelligence believes the Russian state was involved in the 2006 radioactive poisoning of dissident former Russian security services officer Aleksandr Litvinenko has been harshly criticized by Russia as a deliberate attempt to harm Russian-British relations. In the... MORE
PUTIN’S AFRIKA KORPS
Deals by Russian companies seeking to acquire African minerals seem to be the order of the day. A $2 billion investment in Zambia was announced in June. The companies, whose names were withheld, are seeking to acquire mining assets in the mineral rich African country.... MORE
REPUTED RUSSIAN CRIME BOSSES DISMISSED MEDVEDEV AS PUTIN’S “PUPPET”
While analysts and other observers continue to discuss Russia’s new ruling diarchy, in particular, the current relative balance of power between President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and how likely that balance of power will remain static, an unusual group of observers has... MORE
MEDVEDEV’S BUSINESS-TOUR YIELDS MORE PROMISES THAN FRUIT
President Dmitri Medvedev is apparently building strong momentum in his foreign policy activities, exploiting one success to achieve another. The remarkably cordial Russia-EU summit in Khanty-Mansiisk two weeks ago paved the way for his friendly visits to Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan last week; and this... MORE
NEW CHARGES AGAINST KHODORKOVSKY: ARE THE SILOVIKI DRAWING A LINE?
The Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor General’s Office has filed new charges against former Yukos chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who, like his former business partner Platon Lebedev, is currently serving an eight-year sentence for fraud and tax evasion. The new charges could add 15 years to... MORE
CHOOSING AN ENEMY, CHOOSING A STRATEGY, CHOOSING A DOCTRINE
Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov announced that the number of servicemen in the armed forces would be decreased from the present 1.13 million to one million by 2013. According to Serdyukov, "The previously approved concept scheduled a decrease in numbers to 1.1 million by 2011 and... MORE
EU-RUSSIA SUMMIT TARGETS NEW PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT
The European Union-Russia summit on June 26 and 27 in Khanty-Mansiisk set the stage for negotiations toward a new basic document on EU-Russia relations. Concluding such an agreement is almost certainly a higher priority for Russia than for the EU. The EU might have used... MORE
…WHILE GLOSSING OVER POST-SOVIET CONFLICTS
The unresolved conflicts, conducted or underwritten by Russia in ex-Soviet territories, were glossed over in Khanty-Mansiisk. EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana had informally assured Georgian leaders ahead of the summit that he would “forcefully” take issue with Russia’s... MORE