One of Vladimir Putin’s earliest proposed mega-projects—first announced on September 12, 2000—calls for the creation of a North-South transportation corridor linking Russia with the Caspian littoral states, including Iran, as well as India and Sri Lanka. Such a transit network would permit these countries to... MORE

Mid-February registered a remarkable sequence of international forums, whose participants debated and sought to counter Russia’s power politics in Europe and the Middle East. First, defense ministers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) had their regular meeting in Brussels (February 13–14) and then proceeded... MORE

On January 21, Sergey Chemezov (the CEO of the Russian arms producer Rostec) announced that, by mid-2019, Russia’s Armed Forces would receive 200 units of Pishal “radio-electronic guns” and Ratnik multifunctional infantry combat systems—elements specifically designed to deal with enemy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). Among... MORE

On November 29, 2018, the Iraqi National Intelligence Service (INIS) announced that it had arrested Jamal al-Mashhadani, a senior member of Islamic State (IS). Al-Mashhadani occupied senior positions in IS, including as the provincial ruler (Wali) of IS’ self-districted provinces of North Baghdad, Kirkuk. He... MORE

Recently, a senior Iranian national security official stated that his country would utilize its proxy forces in Lebanon and Gaza to unleash an “inferno” on Israel (Times of Israel [Jerusalem], January 29). These comments come as Israel has increased its military activities against Iran in... MORE

In recent years, Moscow has placed growing emphasis on procuring modern and advanced platforms to increase the combat capability of its Air Force, subsumed within the Aerospace Forces (Vozdushno Kosmicheskikh Sil—VKS). Many of these new aerial platforms have also been tried and tested in military... MORE

Foreign affairs have yielded few successes and much chagrin for Russia since the start of 2019 (see EDM, January 14, 2019). Relations with the United States are going from bad to worse, as the inevitable collapse of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty signifies... MORE

Mass anti-government protests that erupted this month in major Venezuelan cities apparently already claimed the lives of at least 29 protestors. The country’s embattled president, Nicolás Maduro, has defined the events as “an attempt at forceful regime change organized by American imperialism” (Rosbalt, January 26,... MORE

YEMEN: Houthi Drone Attack and Fragile Ceasefire Brian M. Perkins The fragile Stockholm Agreement ceasefire in Yemen’s port city of Hudaydah that was agreed upon in Sweden on December 18, 2018 continues to hang in the balance.  Talks between the Houthis and Yemen’s Saudi-backed government... MORE

Egyptian security forces killed 40 militants in a shoot-out during an operation that targeted three strongholds in Giza province and North Sinai on December 29. A statement by the ministry of interior stated “police confiscated a number of guns, ammunition and explosive charges that were... MORE