Latest Articles about Middle East
RUSSIAN ENERGY PROFITS AID RUSSIAN MILITARY, BUT NOT MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL SECTOR
Although energy and foreign policy issues have dominated reporting from Russia in 2006, there have also been interesting developments in the defense sector. The Putin regime has launched a comprehensive effort to modernize the Russian military, including its defense-industrial sector. Moreover, this effort has included... MORE
TURNING DEMOCRACY INTO A “FRINGE ELEMENT” AND MOLDOVA INTO A RUSSIAN PROTECTORATE
The latest session of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna adds to the indications that officials in Brussels and Washington are returning to the 2002-2004 policy of resolving the Transnistria conflict in a manner that abandons Moldova to Russian domination. That policy entails now, as... MORE
GAZPROM PICKS OFF ONE LARGE GERMAN MORSEL, POISED FOR ANOTHER
With Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel looking on, the chairmen of Gazprom and BASF, Alexei Miller and Juergen Hambrecht, signed an agreement on joint ventures in Siberian gas field development and gas marketing in Germany and Europe on April 27. The... MORE
Sinai Bombings Mark Latest in Pattern of Symbolic Attacks in Egypt
Last week's deadly explosions at a popular restaurant, café and supermarket frequented by tourists in the Egyptian city of Dahab in the Sinai Peninsula appear to fit the pattern of terrorist attacks targeting Cairo's lucrative tourism infrastructure. As a critical source of income for the... MORE
Kurdish Unrest Escalates in Turkey’s Southeast
The issue of national security appears to be again coming to the forefront of Turkish politics. The continuing infiltration of Kurdish insurgents into Turkey from Iraq, the clashes between the army and domestic Kurdish youths, the spate of terrorist acts carried out by Kurdish militant... MORE
…as al-Zarqawi Models Himself After Bin Laden
There are a number of features that make al-Zarqawi's video noteworthy. First of all, al-Zarqawi himself appears unmasked in it, the first time the militant jihadist leader has appeared in this manner. Secondly, the high-quality video was presented as a production of the "Mujahideen Shura... MORE
RUSSIAN-GERMAN SUMMIT IN TOMSK: SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP ON DISPLAY
The Russian-German energy and political summit held April 26-28 in Tomsk indicated that Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrat-Social Democrat government is reverting to the Russia policy line established by her predecessor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrat-Green government. Eight cabinet ministers and a massive group of business... MORE
NOT QUITE 100 YEARS OF CURTAILED RUSSIAN PARLIAMENTARISM
Last week both chambers of the Russian parliament gathered for a special session in St. Petersburg to mark the 100th anniversary of the opening of the first State Duma. Tsar Nicholas II had ordered the creation of an arena for political dialogue in a country... MORE
KREMLIN TRIES TO CONVINCE WARY WEST THAT STRONG GAZPROM IS GOOD FOR IT
Several seemingly disparate events that occurred this week -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's talks in Greece and Turkey, Russian President Vladimir Putin hosting German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Siberian city of Tomsk, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's visit to Washington, and the discussions... MORE
RUSSIAN FORCES DRILL FOR POSSIBLE REBEL OFFENSIVE IN NORTH CAUCASUS
Russian authorities are preparing for a summer or autumn rebel offensive in the North Caucasus. "It will be a hot summer," Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer told AFP. As far back as January Russian generals had recognized the possibility of rebel attacks in any part... MORE