Latest Articles about Middle East
Al-Qaeda Doctrine for International Political Warfare
Do Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and their al-Qaeda organization and its allies conduct diplomacy in the traditional sense of that activity? Given that al-Qaeda and its affiliated factions are not nation-states, have no capital cities and neither send nor receive representatives who can be... MORE
MOSCOW PRESSES FOR CFE TREATY RATIFICATION IN RUN-UP TO NATO AND OSCE SUMMITS
On his October 25-26 official visit to Moscow, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer successfully resisted demands by Russian officials for prompt ratification of the adapted Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) by NATO countries. Russia hopes to induce some governments in the alliance... MORE
PUTIN TAKES “LIFE-IS-GOOD” APPROACH WITH RUSSIAN PUBLIC
Last Wednesday, October 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin held his annual live call-in television show. For three hours he answered questions from 10 specially arranged locations, from Nakhodka, near Vladivostok in the Far East, to Baltiisk, near Kaliningrad. Public attention to this PR exercise was... MORE
HOW PUTIN MIGHT WIELD “INFLUENCE” AFTER 2008
The most-talked about part of President Vladimir Putin’s recent nationally televised call-in program was his answer to a question concerning his plans after his second term ends in 2008. “I have said: even though I like my work, the Constitution does not allow me to... MORE
RUSSIA AMBIVALENT ABOUT SAKHALIN PRODUCTION SHARING DEALS
Russian energy projects governed by production sharing agreements are now facing environmental scrutiny, possibly indicating Moscow's unhappiness over the terms of deals made almost a decade ago. Russian officials went as far as threatening to shut down the country's largest production sharing agreement (PSA) project,... MORE
WESTERN SANCTIONS OVER IRAN DAMAGE RUSSIAN AVIATION INDUSTRY
Russian aircraft producer Sukhoi and the official arms trader Rosoboroneksport are beginning to feel the sanctions imposed last July by the U.S. Department of State for violating the Iran Non-Proliferation Act of 2000 (EDM, August 7). Sukhoi Civil Aircraft announced that the restrictions might hamper... MORE
Online Jihadi Forums Provide Curriculum for Aspiring Mujahideen
A recent discussion on https://tajdeed.org.uk demonstrates the increasingly common practice of training up-and-coming mujahideen via the internet. The postings attached archived copies of al-Ansar magazine, Sawt al-Jihad and Mu'askat al-Battar, all of which were clearinghouses for al-Qaeda's jihadi strategists. Such forum postings illustrate the way... MORE
Israel Accuses Syria of Smuggling Arms into Lebanon
Renewed Israeli claims that Syria continues to rearm Hezbollah in defiance of UN Resolution 1701 come at a time when there are fears in Israel that Arab groups in Gaza and the Golan Heights may be planning to emulate Hezbollah's tactics in last summer's fighting.... MORE
Islamic Army in Iraq Pursues Strategy of Negotiation and Violence
The Islamic Army in Iraq, a prominent insurgent group, is pulling away from the purely rejectionist trend of most Sunni Arab insurgents, refining its approach toward conducting the Iraqi insurgency. Instead of exclusively focusing on the military fight (as most Sunni insurgents have done), or... MORE
ANNA POLITKOVSKAYA: VICTIM OF A KREMLIN POWER STRUGGLE?
Various theories have circulated regarding who might have murdered the journalist Anna Politkovskaya on October 7, and why. According to these, she was targeted by nationalist extremists, or by Russian military officers that she had named in connection with human rights abuses in Chechnya, or... MORE