Latest Articles about Middle East
TWELVE MONTHS: THE SHORT LIFE OF COMFORTABLE ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT RUSSIA’S ENERGY POLICY IN 2006
The Kremlin’s confiscatory assault on Royal Dutch Shell and threats to other Western energy majors in Russia on Black Tuesday, December 12 (see EDM, December 13) is the latest in a series of moves disproving Western wishful thinking about Russia’s energy policy. That wishful thinking... MORE
RUSSIA’S SAKHALIN-2 PROJECT REMAINS UNDER PRESSURE
Russian officials have made little secret of their unhappiness over the terms of existing production sharing agreements, notably Sakhalin-2. Russia refuses to foot the Sakhalin-2 cost overruns, according to Russian Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko. He argued that doubling the project's spending estimate would... MORE
RUSSIAN MEDIA SPLIT ON IRAQ STUDY GROUP REPORT
Surprisingly, the official Russian media reaction to the publication of the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group report has been very restrained -- even difficult to find (Rossiya TV, NTV, December 6). This restraint may be because official Russian commentators and the government well understand that total... MORE
THE RUSSIAN LOVE AFFAIR WITH PINOCHET
In Soviet times Chile’s General Augusto Pinochet, who died December 10 at the age of 91, was denounced as a ruthless dictator and a henchman of U.S. imperialists. On September 11, 1973, Pinochet led a bloody coup that overthrew the government of Salvador Allende --... MORE
A BLACK TUESDAY FOR WESTERN ENERGY COMPANIES IN RUSSIA
An unprecedented flurry of warnings by top Russian energy officials on a single day, December 12, may mark that date as a Black Tuesday for Western energy companies investing in Russia. First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Gazprom president Alexei Miller, Energy and Industry Minister... MORE
MONGOL PRESIDENT PAYS UNEVENTFUL VISIT TO MOSCOW
While visiting Russia from December 4 to December 10, Mongolian President Nambaryn Enkhbayar reiterated pledges to strengthen economic ties with Moscow. However, similar official pronouncements in the past have so far failed to generate any breakthrough in bilateral relations. At a meeting in the Kremlin... MORE
The Kurdish Security Network in Northern Iraq
In spite of escalating violence in Iraq, the very region that served as the gateway for al-Qaeda in Iraq is now one of the most secure areas in the country. Iraqi Kurdistan, formally the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), has taken the opposite trajectory than most... MORE
Accusations Fly After the Pierre Gemayel Assassination
In the aftermath of the war with Israel, Hezbollah and its allies (the Shiite Amal Party and Christian leader General Michel Aoun) are struggling to depose the Lebanese government of Sunni Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and his March 14 coalition of anti-Syrian Sunni, Druze and... MORE
Turks Join the Jihad in Iraq and Afghanistan
While it is a long held maxim that Turkey is "with" the West in the war on terrorism—especially after the 2003 Istanbul bombings—the invasion of Iraq has made anti-Americanism vogue in Turkey. Some Turks believe that Jews blew up the World Trade Center and that... MORE
WILL ECONOMIC SANCTIONS BECOME A LEGITIMATE TOOL OF RUSSIAN FOREIGN POLICY?
Russian lawmakers appear to have confirmed the Kremlin’s move to legitimize economic sanctions as an established instrument of the country’s increasingly muscular foreign policy. The jury is still out, however, as to whether this tool will be effective. On December 6 Russia’s State Duma voted... MORE