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Latest Articles about Middle East
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FIRST RUSSIAN-OPERATED PIPELINE ON EUROPEAN UNION TERRITORY REARS ITS HEAD
Given the policy vacuum in Brussels and Washington, the EU member countries Greece and Bulgaria are far advanced in negotiations with Russia on constructing a Russian state-operated oil transit pipeline on their territories, connecting the Black Sea with the Aegean. The Burgas-Alexandropolis project, if carried... MORE
TEHRAN REMINDS AZERBAIJAN TO KEEP DISTANCE FROM WASHINGTON
On February 22, Azerbaijani media outlets reported that Iranian helicopters had violated the air space of Azerbaijan and by flying over the southern town of Astara for over 20 minutes. Reportedly, the flight took place right over the city administration building and caused considerable panic... MORE
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Moqtada al-Sadr’s New Alliance with Tehran
For the last three years, Tehran's relationship with the firebrand junior cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has undergone a significant change. During the early rise of the Sadrist phenomenon, the young cleric was viewed by Iranian officials, especially by the major clerics in the government, as the... MORE
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French Authorities Dismantle Network of Fighters Bound for Iraq
In the early hours of February 14, the anti-terrorism directorate of the French national police arrested 11 French citizens, including four women, on suspicion that they were part of a network recruiting volunteers to go to Iraq to fight the U.S.-led coalition. On February 17,... MORE
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RUSSIAN MILITARY PREPARE TO COUNTER U.S. THREAT
Russian leaders have expressed concern over planned U.S. missile defense deployments in Europe. Russian generals have gone further, threatening to abrogate the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty and to target nuclear missiles on U.S. missile-defense bases, if they are established in Europe (see EDM,... MORE
RUSSIA SEES GREAT OPPORTUNITIES IN 2007 FOR STATE ARMAMENTS FIRM ROSOBORONEKSPORT
Russian President Vladimir Putin, having successfully centralized the country's energy companies, is now pursuing similar structural reforms in the country's armaments industry, seeing great opportunities for expanding exports worldwide in 2007. First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sergei Ivanov said that in 2006... MORE
DUMA DEPUTY BLAMES PUTIN FOR BESLAN MASSACRE
On February 6 Yuri Ivanov, a Communist deputy in the Russian State Duma, declared that President Vladimir Putin had personally ordered Russian forces to use grenade launchers to fire on a school building to end the siege in Beslan nearly three years ago. In September... MORE
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THE IRANIAN TEST FOR PUTIN’S NEW COURSE
The report on Iran’s nuclear program that Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), presented to the UN Security Council on February 22 presents an inescapable challenge for Russia. The fact of Tehran’s non-compliance with Resolution 1737, adopted by the Security... MORE
KREMLIN MOVES TO REPAIR DAMAGED INTERNATIONAL IMAGE
Russian officials have strongly endorsed efforts to improve the country's tarnished international reputation. On February 21, Oleg Morozov, first deputy speaker of the State Duma, declared, "A negative image of Russia entails a lack of confidence in us, in our political system, in our economy,... MORE
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SECESSIONIST LEADERS COORDINATE ACTIVITIES IN MOSCOW
Between February 16 and 21, the “presidents” of South Ossetia and Transnistria and the “foreign ministers” of Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Transnistria paid overlapping visits to Moscow for talks with Russian government officials and in the State Duma. The three “foreign ministers” also conferred among... MORE