Latest Articles about Middle East

GAZPROM RESHUFFLE FOLLOWS WARNINGS OF DOMESTIC GAS SHORTAGE

As Russia faces a natural gas shortage and the government mulls higher domestic prices for 2007, the gas monopoly Gazprom fired its top executive in charge of domestic supplies and some exports to the Commonwealth of Independent States. Following a government report that Russia could... MORE

Yemen’s Al-Iman University: A Pipeline for Fundamentalists?

The recent arrests of 23 men, including four Europeans and three Australians, have once again raised questions about Yemen's al-Iman University and its possible links to extremism. Initial reports suggested that the European and Australian suspects, who were accused of smuggling weapons to Islamist militias... MORE

The Shiite Zarqawi: A Profile of Abu Deraa

Depending on whom you ask, Abu Deraa is either considered a Shiite hero or the Shiite version of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The legendary militant, notorious for his brutal tactics and hatred for Sunnis, is known to operate out of Sadr City, yet he remains a... MORE

A Rewarding Month for Al-Qaeda and its Allies

It has become common in the United States and the West to acknowledge the difficulty of integrating and making sense of the disparate, geographically diverse events that occur in the war on terrorism and to assess which side is winning. The first half of November,... MORE

PUTIN-LUKASHENKA MEETING SHATTERS

As anticipated (see EDM, November 8), Belarus President Alexander Lukashenka’s meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow on November 10 ended in disagreement on the full range of issues discussed. In a highly unusual move, the Kremlin kept the publicity down to near-zero... MORE

COULD CORRUPTION BE GOOD FOR RUSSIA?

The new Corruption Perception Index, published by Transparency International last week, put Russia in 121st place together with nine other states, including the Philippines and Rwanda. This ranking is one group above Azerbaijan but one group below Kazakhstan and three groups below Ukraine and Georgia... MORE