Latest Articles about Middle East

MOSCOW QUIETLY RAISES ITS GAME IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Three weeks after the eruption of hostilities in Lebanon, Russia has remained uncharacteristically cautious and reserved. President Vladimir Putin took a very active stance in the debates on the conflict at the July 15-17 G-8 summit in St. Petersburg and claimed credit for “softening” the... MORE

RUSSO-CHINESE FORESTRY JOINT VENTURE PLANS SPARK CONCERNS

As Russian and Chinese officials indicated plans to launch a major forestry joint venture in Siberia, environmentalists decried the idea as an ominous sign for Russia’s taiga forests. Russia and China discussed a long-term lease of one million hectares of Siberian forests as "a pilot... MORE

RUSSIAN ENERGY MONOPOLIES MARCH TOWARD HYDROCARBONS EMPIRE

The latest moves by Russia’s major state-controlled energy companies have clearly demonstrated that “expansion” and “control” are still the words that best describe the Kremlin’s preferred “mode of operation.” On the Western front Gazprom, Russia’s natural energy behemoth, appears ready to strike a deal with... MORE

RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES DOUBT REBELS WILL ACCEPT AMNESTY OFFER

Russian authorities are continuing their attempts to get maximum benefit from the July 10 death of Shamil Basaev, military commander of North Caucasian rebels. On July 15 Federal Security Service Director Nikolai Patrushev put forward an offer of amnesty to Chechnya’s separatist rebels (see Chechnya... MORE

RUSSIA UPS OIL EXPORTS TO CHINA BY RAIL

Russian boosted its oil exports to China by rail this year, but crude shipments are yet to match earlier expectations. In the first six months of 2006, Russian crude shipments to China by rail reached some 100,000 barrels per day (nearly 5 million tons) or... MORE

The New York Plot: The Impact of Bin Laden’s Campaign to Inspire Jihad

The recent disruption of a developing terrorist plot to destroy an underwater tunnel connecting New Jersey and New York City and inundate lower Manhattan offers an opportunity to assess the impact of Osama bin Laden's decade-plus effort to inspire others to undertake operations against the... MORE

AN INFORMAL FAREWELL TO THE DYSFUNCTIONAL COMMONWEALTH

There were plenty of good reasons to organize an informal top-level meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Moscow last weekend. Old conflicts and new tensions dividing its 12 member-states, from the deadlocked antagonism between Armenia and Azerbaijan to the ongoing spy scandal... MORE