Latest Articles about Middle East
Mujahideen Explain Away Failures of the Abqaiq Attack
Internet mujahideen are reflecting on the meager results of the attempted bombings by al-Qaeda at the Abqaiq (also known as Buqayq) oil processing plant in Saudi Arabia. A number of postings on the Tajdeed forum are illustrative (https://tajdeed.org.uk). Most postings talk up the significance of... MORE
RUSSIA CHINA PLEDGE TO BOOST SECURITY TIES
Top Russian and Chinese security officials have reiterated earlier pledges to develop bilateral cooperation. They also agreed to hold an unprecedented security drill in Southern Russia, the region that includes Chechnya and other volatile North Caucasus republics. "We have made plans to conduct exercises in... MORE
LOCALS BELIEVE RUSSIAN MILITARY IS POISONING CHECHEN CHILDREN
Last December 7, Taisa Minkailova, a 13-year-old Chechen girl from the village of Starogladkovskaya in the Shelkovskoy District of Northern Chechnya, complained of health problems. She was gasping for air, experiencing convulsions and headaches, and her limbs became numb. Her parents brought her to a... MORE
RUSSIAN RAILWAYS FEARS LOOSING OIL SHIPMENTS TO CHINA
Russian Railways (RZD), a state-owned monopoly, has been eyeing crude oil shipments to China as a key element of its Far Eastern development. But now RZD is concerned over prospects of loosing lucrative oil freight business to the planned Pacific oil pipeline. RZD's strategic priority... MORE
TEHRAN ANNOUNCES NEW NUCLEAR DEAL WITH MOSCOW, BUT CONTENT IS RERUN OF OLD ARGUMENTS
On Sunday, February 26, Tehran announced an agreement about creating an Iranian-Russian joint venture to enrich uranium. Despite the fanfare, the deal does not represent a genuine agreement that overcomes the crisis generated by Iran's violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. In fact, both sides concede... MORE
Al-Qaeda’s Insurgency Doctrine: Aiming for a “Long War”
Conventional national militaries train, think, and fight according to their doctrine. To date, however, America and the West have not sufficiently appreciated that al-Qaeda, too, is fighting the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan according to a doctrine of its own. That doctrine has been developed... MORE
TRAGEDY AT MOSCOW MARKET REVEALS XENOPHOBIA AMONG RUSSIAN PUBLIC
On February 23 the roof over Moscow's Basmanny market collapsed from a combination of snow buildup and questionable construction. Two years ago a similar accident took place at the Transvaal water park in Moscow, taking the lives of 28 people. Both projects had the same... MORE
AS EUROPE EMBRACES ENERGY CONSERVATION, MOSCOW LOOKS TO ASIA’S GROWING DEMAND
Russia has reiterated plans to diversify its oil and natural gas exports with a growing focus on the Asia-Pacific region. In the near future, the main instrument of the Kremlin's strategy to re-orient hydrocarbon exports from Europe to Asia remains the planned oil pipeline from... MORE
KHRUSHCHEV’S SECRET SPEECH AND PUTIN’S PUBLIC PRAISE
Besides the Olympic headlines, in the last two weeks the Russian media has presented a remarkable variety of comments and reflections on an event that shocked the country 50 years ago. On February 14, 1956, the 20th Communist Party Congress opened in Moscow. It proceeded... MORE
MOSCOW STUNG BY GEORGIAN RESOLUTION ON SOUTH OSSETIA
Predictably, Moscow has unleashed a psychological warfare offensive in response to the Georgian Parliament's February 15 resolution on replacing Russia's "peacekeeping" operation in South Ossetia with an international peacekeeping operation (see EDM, February 15). In that resolution's aftermath, Kremlin consultant Gleb Pavlovsky -- speaking on... MORE