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Latest Articles about Middle East
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Expansion of Yemen’s Refining Capacity Raises Terrorism Concerns
On May 16, the Yemeni-Gulf Oil Services Company (YGOSC) announced its intention to build a refinery in the Ras Essa area of Hodeidah Province on the Red Sea coast. Scheduled for completion in August 2009, YGOSC expects the project to increase its refining capacity by... MORE
GAZPROM ACHIEVES AN ANSCHLUSS OF AUSTRIA
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s May 23-24 visit to Austria laid the ground for that country’s integration into Gazprom’s rapidly expanding network of dependencies. By the same token, it dealt a coup de grace to the Nabucco project for alternative gas supplies to Austria and Europe.... MORE
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MOSCOW CONFRONTS THE WEST OVER CFE TREATY AT OSCE
Russian officials are intensifying their warnings about scuttling the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE), unless the West brings the adapted but unratified treaty into force while accepting the continued presence of Russian troops in Georgia and Moldova. Apart from that goal, Moscow aims... MORE
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A Shiite Storm Looms on the Horizon: Sadr and SIIC Relations
Post-Baathist Iraqi politics is undergoing a dramatic change, and the Sadrists and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), formerly known as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), are leading the way by bringing a major shift in the balance of power.... MORE
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RUSSIA TO REDIRECT MASSIVE OIL VOLUMES FROM DRUZHBA TO BALTIC PIPELINE
On May 21, the Russian government announced its final approval of the second trunk line of the Baltic Pipeline System (BPS-2) for oil export from Russia’s port Primorsk through the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. This is Russia’s fifth major move within ten days... MORE
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RECRUITING PROFESSIONAL SERGEANTS RUSSIAN-STYLE
This week the Russian Ministry of Defense held a conference of sergeants and other serving non-commissioned officers at the base of the elite 27th army brigade, just outside Moscow. Some 424 NCOs were scheduled to attend, representing units from all across Russia and from all... MORE
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RUSSIA-EU SUMMIT BRINGS MORE MISUNDERSTANDING AND MISTRUST
The only undisputable fact about the Russia-EU summit in Samara on May 18 was that it actually took place; whether that constitutes a positive result is open to interpretation. Even Russia’s demonstratively self-confident President Vladimir Putin hardly finds much satisfaction in the mutual understanding that... MORE
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The Kurdistan Brigades: Al-Qaeda’s Kurdish Henchmen
In the last week, a series of attacks have hit the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq. On May 9, a truck bomb exploded outside of the Interior Ministry in Irbil, and on May 13, a truck bomb targeted the offices of the Kurdistan Democratic Party... MORE
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DIPLOMATIC FRENZY AS NEW COLD WAR LOOMS
This week U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, en route to Moscow, told journalists that Russo-American relations are "not easy," but that the tensions do not amount to a new Cold War (AP, RIA-Novosti, May 14). During the Cold War era there were times of... MORE
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RUSSIA’S IRKUTSK REGION SEEKS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Despite its abundant natural resources, the Irkutsk region of Siberia has struggled to capitalize on its significant economic potential, mainly because it has been hampered by inadequate investment, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov told a cabinet meeting on May 10. He also pointed out that average... MORE