Latest Articles about Middle East

ESTONIA ALERTS THE EU TO RUSSIA’S CHALLENGE

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The violent rioting by several thousand Russian youths in Estonia on April 27-29 obscures the larger fact that hundreds of thousands of Russians in the country have not in any way become involved in illegal behavior or political protests, despite continuing incitement from Moscow. Although... MORE

RUSSIA BEGINS CYBER ATTACKS AGAINST ESTONIAN GOVERNMENT

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The Kremlin’s assault on Estonia is intensifying on four levels of varying sophistication. These include: cyber attacks from within Russia’s Presidential Administration against the Estonian presidency’s and government’s electronic communications; political demands, backed by economic sanctions threats, to change the Estonian government; siege laid by... MORE

RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES, MEDIA INFLAME SITUATION IN ESTONIA

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Tallinn is trying hard to defuse the crisis by initiating a political dialogue with Moscow. To start a dialogue at the parliamentary level, the Estonian Parliament’s Chairwoman, Ene Ergma, invited a Russian delegation, headed by the Duma’s Veterans Affairs Committee chairman Nikolai Kovalyov, to Estonia... MORE

ALIEN VANDALISM IN ESTONIA’S CAPITAL

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The city of Tallinn is assessing the damage after two consecutive nights of violent rioting by gangs of mostly young local Russians. The third night passed relatively quietly. Ostensibly triggered by the expected relocation of the Red Army monument (the Bronze Soldier) from downtown Tallinn,... MORE

Turkey’s Coming Offensive Against the Iraqi-based PKK

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The creation of a largely autonomous and peaceful "Kurdistan" in northern Iraq is often trumpeted as a major success in post-Baathist Iraq. Any progress made, however, toward an independent nation for the stateless Kurds creates great uneasiness in Turkey, Syria and Iran, all of which... MORE

Divisions Within the Iraqi Insurgency

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With so many actors in the Iraqi insurgent theater, it is hard to keep track of the various permutations of militant Islamic groups and their alliances. It is going to become all the more difficult given recent splits and conflicts between and within indigenous Iraqi... MORE

IN FAREWELL ADDRESS, PUTIN DISTRIBUTES OIL MONEY

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It was the “moratorium” on implementing the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty, a largely symbolic gesture of little practical consequence, that captured Western attention in Putin’s address to parliament on Thursday, April 26. The 72-minute speech (the longest in this genre) was, however, predominantly... MORE