Latest Articles about Middle East
Capabilities and Restraints in Turkey’s Counter-Terrorism Policy
Turkey has long faced a broad range of domestic terrorist threats, ranging from left-wing and Kurdish radicals to violent indigenous Islamist groups and Turkish militants affiliated with or sympathetic to transnational organizations such as al-Qaeda. The country’s geographical location, often porous borders and thriving black... MORE
Police Raids Uncover al-Qaeda’s Parallel World in Turkey
Al-Qaeda is taking roots in Turkey, as indicated by recent police crackdowns and the discovery of a parallel jihadi society in Istanbul. In a two-day operation, Turkish police forces arrested 43 alleged members of al-Qaeda. On April 1, police forces launched four simultaneous raids in... MORE
THE CONTOURS OF PUTIN’S DE FACTO THIRD TERM COME INTO FOCUS
As two Russian newspapers, Nezavisimaya Gazeta and Moskovsky korrespondent, correctly predicted last month (see EDM, March 28), President Vladimir Putin agreed on April 15 to become chairman of the United Russia party. Announcing at the party’s ninth annual congress in Moscow that he was “ready... MORE
Iraqi Shiite Factionalism and Iran’s Role in the Basra Fighting
One week after the upsurge of violence in Basra, questions about the motives and implications of the fighting still linger. The issue of Iran’s involvement remains especially obscure. A recurrent explanation suggests that the operations were an attempt by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and... MORE
MOSCOW MAKES FURIOUS BUT EMPTY THREATS TO GEORGIA AND UKRAINE
In the wake of NATO’s summit, top Russian officials are threatening Georgia and Ukraine directly and NATO indirectly with retaliation, if the alliance approves membership action plans for these countries. During the run-up to NATO’s Bucharest summit, from such threats were commonplace Kremlin political consultants... MORE
FORMER DUMA DEPUTY CALLS LIBERAL PROMISES A COVER FOR GROWING AUTHORITARIANISM
Former independent State Duma deputy Vladimir Ryzhkov was one of the last liberals to remain in the State Duma, but the fate of his career as a parliamentary deputy was sealed in March 2007, when Russia’s Supreme Court liquidated his small Republican Party of Russia,... MORE
NATO SUMMIT SENDS AMBIGUOUS MESSAGE ON RUSSIAN TROOPS IN MOLDOVA AND GEORGIA
At its summit in Bucharest on April 2 to 4, NATO seems to have dropped its long-standing demand for full withdrawal of Russian troops from Moldova and Georgia. The NATO alliance had reiterated that demand at its preceding two summits, in Istanbul in 2004 and... MORE
VENEZUELA BUYS RUSSIAN ARMS
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Washington’s favorite Latin American bete noir after Fidel Castro, unsettled Washington again last year by negotiating a $1 billion deal with Moscow to purchase a number of 636-model Varshavianka-class (NATO designation “Kilo”) diesel electric submarines (Agentstvo Voyennykh Novostei, April 4). Various... MORE
KREMLIN USES NATO-RUSSIA COUNCIL AS A PLATFORM FOR ANTI-NATO POLEMICS
Russian President Vladimir Putin attended a session of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) at the level of heads of state and governments on April 4 in Bucharest, as an epilogue to the NATO summit. NATO had initiated the invitation, while Putin played hard to get in... MORE
PUTIN’S “NEAR ABROAD” IS “NATO’S EAST” AS DISAGREEMENTS CONTINUE
At his press conference following his address to the session of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC), Russian President Vladimir Putin engaged in a lengthy indictment of NATO policies across the board (www.kremlin.ru, Interfax, April 4, 5). Predictably criticizing the alliance’s open door to former Soviet-controlled countries,... MORE