Latest Articles about Middle East

Saad bin Laden: The Key to Iranian-al-Qaeda Detente?

On July 28, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard reportedly released Osama bin Laden's 27 year-old son, Saad bin Laden, according to the German newspaper Die Welt. Saad had been held under house arrest in Iran, along with other al-Qaeda figures who were arrested in round-ups by... MORE

MOSCOW OUTRAGED BY U.S. SANCTIONS AGAINST TWO RUSSIAN COMPANIES

On the evening of Friday, August 4, the Russian Foreign Ministry published a statement that condemned in the strongest possible way the decision of U.S. State Department to introduce sanctions against Rosoboroneksport and Sukhoi for violating the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000 (Lenta.ru, August 4).... MORE

RUSSIA MOVES TO DEVELOP AND REPOPULATE THE KURIL ISLANDS

As Russia has failed to secure any significant economic incentives from Tokyo, especially a Japan-bound Pacific oil pipeline route, the Kremlin has moved to develop and repopulate the Kuril Islands, apparently indicating a loss of interest in resolving the long-standing territorial dispute. Russia's government has... MORE

YUKOS BANKRUPTCY: THE BIG PICTURE

A court decision declaring Yukos -- once Russia’s largest oil company -- bankrupt has finally brought to an end the sad story of confrontation between private business and a powerful state. But the ruling also highlighted the unhealthy nature of the country’s raw-materials-based socio-economic system.... MORE

RUSSIA’S OIL PIPELINE LEAK SPARKS ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS

A leak in one segment of Russia's Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline has not only affected international prices, but the incident has also reignited debates regarding the safety record of the country's aging pipeline system. The leak occurred July 29 on the Russian border with Ukraine and... MORE

RUSSIAN OIL SUPPLIES TO LITHUANIA CUT OFF

Since July 29, Russia’s oil pipeline monopoly Transneft has stopped deliveries to Lithuania’s Mazeikiai refinery, the largest economic entity in that country and sole refinery in the Baltic states. Transneft’s move seems designed to block the consummation of the three-way deal whereby Poland’s PKN Orlen... MORE

Zawahiri: Internationalizing Jihad, Uniting Muslims and Trumping Saudi Clerics

Ayman al-Zawahiri's July 27 statement on the Israel-Hezbollah conflict deftly advanced al-Qaeda's own interests, as well as al-Qaeda's goal of putting the world's multiple ongoing Islamic insurgencies into the context of a single, Shiite-and-Sunni struggle against "the Zionist-Crusader aggression." The struggles in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq... MORE

Hezbollah’s Tactics and Capabilities in Southern Lebanon

With its attack on Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, Israel is fighting on terrain that has been prepared by the Shiite movement for six years since the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000. Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers have described finding a network of concrete bunkers... MORE