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Latest Articles about Middle East
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Russia Now Losing Out to China on Iranian Rail Route
The Russian government long assumed that Western sanctions on Iran would allow it to steal a march on the world by expanding its railroad connections to the south via the Islamic Republic while simultaneously ensuring that the South Caucasus remains a Moscow-dominated hub for both... MORE
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Abu Alaa al-Walai: Tehran’s Loyal Iraqi Militiaman
"All Americans in Iraq will be hostages if a war broke out between the U.S. and Iran. Because we will stand with Iran, period,” said Abu Ala’a al-Walai, the prominent Iraqi Shia militia leader, in a TV interview last August (Alalam TV, August 28, 2019; YouTube,... MORE
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Briefs
Southern Transitional Council Seeks Leverage with Declaration of Self-Rule Brian M. Perkins Saudi Arabia’s attempts to extricate itself from the war in Yemen became increasingly complicated as the Riyadh Agreement all but collapsed on April 25, when the Southern Transitional Council (STC) declared a state... MORE
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Tajikistan Struggles to Integrate Ismaili Pamiris Living Along Afghan Border
Eastern Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region—comprising more than half of the historical mountainous region of Badakhshan, which it shares with northern Afghanistan—is one of the most isolated, impoverished and unsettled places in Central Asia. Gorno-Badakhshan was a center of resistance to Dushanbe during the civil war... MORE
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COVID-19 Increases Importance of Middle Corridor
Following the large coronavirus outbreak in Iran, neighboring countries quickly closed their borders with the Islamic Republic. More than a thousand Turkish trucks carrying goods to Central Asia found themselves stuck at checkpoints due to the closure of the Iran-Turkey and Iran-Turkmenistan borders (Daily Sabah,... MORE
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Hot Issue – Is This the Beginning of the End of the War in Yemen?
Executive Summary: Defeats, plummeting oil prices, and a global pandemic are forcing Saudi Arabia to rethink its involvement in Yemen. Ironically, the end of overt Saudi involvement in Yemen may help it achieve some of its aims as new alliances dilute Houthi control and minimize... MORE
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Briefs
Oman’s Delicate Domestic Balance Brian M. Perkins Oman’s longstanding financial and governance model is being tested like never before as the country’s economy continues to decline due to its historic reliance on oil, as well as the harsh economic impacts of COVID-19. These crises have... MORE
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Arms from Yemen will Fuel Conflict in the Horn of Africa
Arms trafficking via the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea has a long history. However, the wars in Yemen and the vast number of arms and materiel provided by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have ushered in a golden age for... MORE
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Turkey’s Drone Blitz Over Idlib
Between February 27 and March 5, Turkey conducted Operation Spring Shield to halt the Syrian Arab Army’s blitz offensive in Idlib and to press Moscow into brokering a ceasefire. Due to the grave risks involved in operating in the Syrian airspace, Turkish military planners opted... MORE
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Russia’s Oil Production Is Incapable of Making Needed Cuts to Stabilize Price
The oil price fixing pact known as “OPEC+”—between the original oil-producing members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and some non-members, primarily Russia—was agreed in December 2016 and implemented in 2017. By limiting oil production, OPEC+ helped keep global prices relatively high.... MORE