INTERVIEW Review of the New Book Kushner Inc. – Greed, Ambition, Corruption. Q. You are the top non-fiction reviewer that we know of, with over 2,500 reviews posted across 97 categories of non-fiction. Last month we did an interview entitled “Understanding Donald Trump and the White House: A few books” (Tehran Times, 13 February 2019). Two years ago you did the first book review essay on the man himself, “UNHINGED? Donald Trump, His Family, His Appointees, & Everyone Else” (San Francisco Review of...
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- 27.03.2019 15:30:36
... Kortunov from Russia[1] and Alastair Cooke from England[2] – have expressed deep concerns over the apparent trends emanating from a mix of the US Establishment (very anti-Russian) and Trump himself (appearing to be playing Russian roulette in the Middle East). I humbly submit that they – and most others including of course the mendaciously mediocre mainstream media – have it wrong. For brevity’s sake, the honorific titles of the three great men – General Secretary Xi Jinping, President ...
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- 18.05.2018 15:22:40
Middle East Next – after a Global Financial Re-Set – Ideas for IranKorea Unification & Denuclearization as Proof of President Donald Trump’s Serious Intent When I reported in the American Herald Tribune on 4 March 2018 (in the aftermath of my February ...
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- 02.05.2018 22:14:49
... internecine issues between Baghdad and Erbil provide external powers with fertile ground to influence the future of Iraq beyond the auspices of U.S. leadership. Within this context, Moscow assumes a favored position to leverage its expanding ties in the Middle East and to serve as a mediator between Erbil, Baghdad, as well as its regional partners who hold a vested stake in the future of Iraq. By establishing and maintaining productive relations with Erbil, Baghdad, Tehran, Ankara, and Damascus, Russia ...
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- 08.08.2017 15:57:07
... Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, Bar Ilan University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Mideast and Security Policy Studies No. 135
The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies is an independent, non-partisan think tank conducting policy-relevant research on Middle Eastern and global strategic affairs, particularly as they relate to the national security and foreign policy of Israel and regional peace and stability. It is named in memory of Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat, whose efforts in pursuing peace lay ...
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- 26.06.2017 10:26:33
... stuck to the commitment it made, Trump’s Secretary of State too agreed that Tehran has not violated the agreement. Yet, US has been extremely critical of the agreement and equated Iran with North Korea. It has accused of playing a negative role in the Middle East, which is harming Washington’s strategic interests in the region.Commenting on Iran, Tillerson stated: "The Trump administration is currently conducting across the entire government a review of our Iran policy ... an unchecked Iran ...
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- 02.05.2017 14:22:56
... that has recently become woefully deficient. Even more intriguing, some of the most vivid recent examples of that degrading relationship have been exhibited within the UNSC itself. On the general business front, Russia will see issues dominating the Middle East and Africa at the top of the schedule: · developments in Syria; · settlements and their legality in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; · implementation of resolution 1559 in Lebanon; · ongoing hostilities in Yemen; ...
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- 26.10.2016 17:14:00
Longstanding relations between Moscow and the Kurds has provided Russia with a “Kurdish card”, that is, the ability to modulate its support to various Kurdish national ambitions throughout the Middle East, depending on what the Kremlin was seeking to obtain from Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. The current Syrian crisis is no exception and has promoted the Russian-Kurdish (PYD[1]) partnership, especially during the period of harsh tensions between ...
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- 15.09.2016 10:44:00
... Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Nevertheless, the bloodshed has reached sizable proportions with estimated 6000 dead since March 2015 and it cannot absolutely be underestimated for the gravity and magnitude of geopolitical effects it carries on the the Middle East and the rest of the world.
The war broke out as a confrontation between the Shiite rebels Houthis allied with President Saleh against the Sunni coalition led by President Hadi. The situation, as it often is the case, was not so simple ...
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- 15.03.2016 13:01:00
The escalation of tension in the Middle East continues. The United States, as one of the main player in the region tries to implement its national interests there with different degree of success. As it is known, among the main challenges of the American foreign policy is the following: ...
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- 05.02.2016 14:39:00
By Alexey Ilin & Claire Berger
The nuclear accord between the P5+1 and Iran will have significant implications beyond the Middle East, particularly when it comes to Russo-Iranian relations. As Paul N. Schwartz, a non-resident senior associate with the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, has argued, “Russia is likely to ...
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- 28.07.2015 17:42:00
Media outlets and government circles both cringe and squirm when the subject of Westerners leaving the West to go fight in Syria and Iraq with the Islamic State arises. While acquiring data and calculating accurate numbers wildly diverges from source to source, there is no doubt that ANY number simply makes countries like the United States uncomfortable and perplexed: in short, how could anyone want to leave the land of the free, the tolerant, the open, the just and go fight for a group that represents...
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- 18.04.2015 17:10:00
... groups actively pursuing technological attacks on American targets simultaneously alongside the development of the U.S. drone fleet. Keep in mind blowback comes in forms other than just anger over actual attacks. There is growing dissent across the Middle East at what is perceived to be a total lack of transparency and scrutiny by the American public over its government’s use of drones. This concern was growing even before the U.S. expanded drone use into the Arabian Peninsula and Northern ...
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- 05.04.2015 07:42:00
... within Western media reports of ‘Saudi concern’ and so-called Western bemusement over impending budget deficits. So as you can see, nothing is ever as it seems in the world of high economic ‘political finance,’ especially in the Middle East when it comes to global energy markets. Saudi Arabia is ‘punishing’ itself for one year so as to reward itself for years to come. I imagine the Saudi royal family members will be able to laugh into their gold sipping cups. Just ...
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- 06.01.2015 19:02:00
So the United States Senate has released its report highlighting extreme and supposedly ‘abhorrent’ techniques used on terrorist targets after 9/11 to glean greater intelligence and information. Since that release there has been an orgy of oscillating condemnation/hand-wringing with rationalization/chest-beating, depending on whom you speak with. What strikes me more is the whole surreal ridiculousness of this false debate.
I say false debate because in some ways this just highlights...
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- 15.12.2014 18:04:00
... its predecessor, Al-Qaeda, establishing control over a large territory in northwestern Iraq and northeastern Syria, and creating proto-state institutions of authority. This reality is especially disturbing for the United States, which is bound by its Middle Eastern network of alliances to deter ISIS, but at the same time suffers from a twelve-year war-weariness and is not ready to conduct a full-scale counter-terrorist operation. Still, even more disturbing is the evidence of how similar the current ...
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- 11.11.2014 00:39:00
Less than two weeks ago President Obama, sitting for an interview with The Economist magazine, basically went ‘old school’ on President Putin, dismissing his Presidency, his country, and the future of both. While his words were certainly blatant and blunt, what might be even more revealing is the subtle subtext hidden inside his cavalier attitude: apparently even Presidents are not above being petulant.
There can be little debate about President Obama’s intent to insult and offend...
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- 22.08.2014 20:17:00
... connections and leveled accusations of Iranian involvement and support to the Houthis, what with the common Shia heritage. These accusations are not completely baseless. Iran has a long history of generating support for whatever groups it can find across the Middle East, especially if those groups might share a particular hatred for Israel. Saudi Arabia has actually always supported the Yemen government’s version of events, but, keeping in mind the earlier axiom that foreign affairs are never simple ...
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- 23.07.2014 18:13:00
... military and strategic gains achieved by the group so far this year have been impressive and unexpected by leaders in the West, this lack of expectation may be accounted for more by the absence of diligence on the part of Western analysts covering the Middle East than by any miraculous strength of force on the part of ISIS. The ISIS movement in Iraq has been bolstered by the hardened fighters located largely in eastern Syria, where there has always been a heavy population of Sunni Muslims. The reality ...
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- 01.07.2014 20:06:00
Many cyber experts state that the United States is woefully ill-prepared for a sophisticated cyber-attack and that each passing day brings us one step closer to a potential virtual Armageddon. While the problems hindering the development of an effective and comprehensive cyber deterrence policy are clear (threat measurement, attribution, information-sharing, legal codex development, and poor infrastructure to name several), this piece focuses on one aspect of the debate that heretofore has been relatively...
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- 29.05.2014 15:02:00
