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Latest Articles about Middle East
GAZPROM’S ACQUISITION OF SIBNEFT SEEN AS DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD
On October 17, Gazprom's Board of Directors approved the acquisition of a controlling share in Sibneft, Russia's fifth-largest oil producer. The deal is a major victory for the Kremlin, which in recent years has built an ever-expanding state-controlled energy giant. With shipments of some 550... MORE
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RUSSIA-BELARUS UNION
On October 21, a draft version of the Constitutional Act of the Union State of Russia and Belarus was drawn up, based on two houses: a House of Representatives (103 members, including 28 from Belarus); and a House of the Union (36 senators and 36... MORE
Is al-Zawahiri’s Letter to al-Zarqawi a Fake?
On October 6, U.S. intelligence in Iraq revealed the existence of a 13-page letter, dated July 9, 2005, from al-Qaeda's number two Ayman al-Zawahiri and addressed to al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The message contained a number of interesting features, including a request... MORE
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The Salafization of the Iraq Conflict
An interesting note posted on a jihadi web forum complements a recent analysis by U.S. Maj. Gen. Richard Zahner on the course of the insurgency in Iraq. In an interview published by The Washington Post on September 28, leading military intelligence officer Gen. Zahner neatly... MORE
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KABARDINO-BALKARIA FACES LONG-TERM GUERRILLA WAR
Russian authorities are hailing their handling of the October 13 rebel attack on Nalchik, the capital of the Caucasian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, as a "great success." Russian Minister of Internal Affairs Rashid Nurgaliev called the attack an "act of desperation" on the part of the... MORE
“MULTICULTURALISM” FORUM GATHERS MOSCOW’S SUPPORTERS
On October 15 in Moscow, officials from the presidential administration and other Kremlin-connected figures hosted a "Forum on Democracy and Multiculturalism in the Euro-East." The participants included representatives of Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria, and Karabakh, activists of pro-Russia parties and associations from several post-Soviet countries,... MORE
RUSSIA SHEDS NO TEARS OVER PEACE TREATY WITH JAPAN
As Russia has failed to secure any significant economic commitments from Tokyo, notably on the Japan-bound Pacific oil pipeline route, the Kremlin is losing interest in resolving a long-standing territorial dispute any time soon.Russia appears to have ruled out any compromise over the Kuril Islands,... MORE
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WAS IT MOSTLY IRAN THAT RICE DISCUSSED WITH LAVROV AND PUTIN IN MOSCOW?
The content and the outcome of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s “emergency” visit to Moscow last Friday and Saturday remain clouded by diplomatic smoke and mirrors. That overnight stay had certainly not been planned. After visiting three Central Asian states (Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan)... MORE
RUSSIA, ARMENIA IN JOINT BID TO STAVE OFF ANOTHER EX-SOVIET REVOLUTION
The leaderships of Russia and Armenia have underscored their persisting concerns about the spread of anti-government uprisings across the former Soviet Union by holding a joint exercise of their special police forces. The extraordinary move comes less than two months before a tense constitutional referendum... MORE
MOSCOW SEES SU-27 CRASH AS OPPORTUNITY FOR NATO COOPERATION
Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has seized on the SU-27 crash in Lithuania to reaffirm Moscow's proposal for joint airspace monitoring and civilian and military air traffic control by NATO and Russia over the Baltic states, through the aegis of the NATO-Russia Council (NAC). Russia's... MORE