With Russia in Middle East, China Claims Central Asia

octubre 05

Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks with his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev after being awarded an honorary Doctorate from Nazarbayev University in Astana. ©AFP With Russia in Middle East, China Claims Central Asia By  Zachary Keck, The Diplomat, October 2, 2013 Russia’s Middle East policy is all the rage these days. An article in the Washington Post on Tuesday notes […]

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Erdogan ‘Demo- cratization Package’ (1)

octubre 03

People watch a television broadcasting the speech of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a coffee shop in Istanbul, Sept. 30, 2013. (photo by REUTERS/ Osman Orsal) Will ‘Democratization Package’ Restore Erdogan’s Reputation? Semih Idiz for Al-Monitor Turkey Pulse; October 1, 2013 When the Arab Spring broke out in December 2010, Turkey was considered a neutral […]

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Turkey’s Influence Divides Yemenis

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Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Yemeni Prime Minister Mohammed Basindowa cut the red ribbon to inaugurate the Turkish International School in Sana’a. Turkey’s Influence Divides Yemenis Farea al-Muslimi, Al-Monitor, September 13, 2013 From the Sabaha region, which overlooks Sanaa from the west and constitutes a vital outlet to the port of Al-Hudaydah on the […]

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Israel quietly maintains ties with Egyptian army

Egyptian Army soldiers stand guard outside the Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque, in the center of the largest protest camp of supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi, that was cleared by security forces, in the district of Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt, Friday, August 16, (photo credit: AP/Hassan Ammar) Israel quietly maintains ties with Egyptian army Fearing that […]

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Gulf Islamist Dissent Over Egypt

Islamist Dissent Over Egypt Marc Lynch, Foreign Policy, August 18, 2013 King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia issued an unusually rapid and strong endorsement of the Egyptian military crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood’s sit-ins, calling on all Arabs to unite behind a crackdown on terrorism, incitement, and disorder. Bahrain, the UAE, and Kuwait rapidly backed his stance. But […]

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Morsi Is Not Arab World’s Mandela

A grafitti on Morsi Morsi Is Not Arab World’s Mandela Hani Sabra and Bassem Sabry, Al-Monitor, August 12, 2013 Tawakul Karman is a brave press-freedom advocate and a worthy Nobel Peace Prize winner. She was a powerful voice in the Yemeni people’s struggle against President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 34-year autocracy and remains an important figure […]

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Vali Nasr: Obama and the Middle East

  Read about this book in: The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. In Spanish: «EEUU: exfuncionario revela enfrentamientos en gobierno por guerra en Afganistán» In conversation with Vali Nasr Mamdouh Al-Muhaini, Asharq Al-Awsat, July 3, 2013 Scholar and former diplomat says Obama is wrong to neglect the Middle East, and his foreign policy […]

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Egypt, Tunisia, Libya …

Photo of Abdulsalam al-Mismari, lawyer & activist murdered in Libya on Friday. Photo via @ShababLibya Egypt, Tunisia, Libya … The political turmoil is spreading Posted by Brian Whitaker, al-bab.com, Saturday, 27 July 2013 All three of North Africa’s «Arab Spring» countries are now in a state of crisis. While media attention, for obvious reasons, is focused mostly […]

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A difficult way forward in Egypt

Tahrir 2011, and the Muslim Broterhood. Cartoon by Chuck Asay A difficult way forward in Egypt International Crisis Group,  Cairo/Brussels,  3 Jul 2013 Egypt teeters on the verge of a catastrophic confrontation, it is difficult to discern who has been more short-sighted: an arrogant Muslim Brotherhood that misread electoral gains for a political blank-check or […]

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The AKP can’t have it all its own way

President Morsi and PM Erdogan: September, 2012:  «Turkish democracy is example for Muslim world: Erdogan» The AKP can’t have it all its own way Semih İdiz, Hürriyet, July 09, 2013 There is a lot of angry moralizing on the part of Turkish Islamists aimed at the West for its reluctance to label what happened in […]

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After Mohammad Morsi’s ouster, a second chance for Obama

After Mohammad Morsi’s ouster, a second chance for Obama by Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy The Washington Post – Opinions, July, 4, 2013 The Egyptian army’s removal of President Mohammad Morsi gives the Obama administration that rarest of opportunities in foreign policy: a second chance. Getting it right will require understanding […]

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The Next Phase of the Arab Spring

Egypt’s military helicopters fly above Cairo’s Tahrir Square with the national flag attached. Credit: REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany The Next Phase of the Arab Spring Stratfor, July 3, 2010 The Arab Spring was an exercise in irony, nowhere more so than in Egypt. On the surface, it appeared to be the Arab equivalent of 1989 […]

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Egypt’s anti-Islamist uprising: How did it come to this?

Protesters, opposing Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, wave the Egyptian flag and shout slogans against him and members of the Muslim Brotherhood at the Brotherhood’s headquarters in Cairo’s Moqattam district July 1, 2013. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/REUTERS) Egypt’s anti-Islamist uprising: How did it come to this? Evan Hill, The Globe and Mail, Jul. 01 2013 Families had stockpiled […]

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Egypt is already a failed state

‘You Can’t Eat Sharia’ Egypt is on the brink — not of something better than the old Mubarak dictatorship, but of something even worse. BY Mohamed el-Baradei | Foreign Policy, JULY/AUGUST 2013 Two years after the revolution that toppled a dictator, Egypt is already a failed state. According to the Failed States Index, in the year before […]

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Secret Syria War Plan To Balkanize Syria And Turkey

US – Russian Relations deteriorating as Kuwaiti Whistle Blower Discloses Secret Syria War-Plan Excerpt from the original article published by nsnbc ìnternational last March 12, 2013 (…) Faisal al-Hamad has, according to the German, independent media Die Evidenz, stated, that a separate and secret agreement had been signed at the sidelines of the Friends of […]

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Syria Is Now Saudi Arabia’s Problem

Brigadier General Salim Idriss Syria Is Now Saudi Arabia’s Problem The battle for a town on the Lebanese border marks the kingdom’s first attempt to lead Syria’s fractured opposition. By Hassan Hassan | June 6, 2013 Hezbollah can finally claim a victory in Syria. The town of Qusayr, adjacent to the Lebanese border, has fallen to the […]

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Yaalon plans to restructure the IDF as small, self-contained armies

Read also: «Moshé Yaalon, un spécialiste des coups d’éclat à la Défense» Yaalon plans to restructure the IDF as small, self-contained armies DEBKAfile Exclusive Report, April 14, 2013 The two top ministers in the new Netanyahu government both have big plans. While overlapping at some points, the two will certainly butt heads on others. Finance […]

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