... seem that U.S. and European leaders have radically revised that idea and now view war not so much as a continuation of policy as they do an alternative to it.
The most recent confirmation of this observation is Washington's bombing campaign against the Islamic State. Since operations began two weeks ago, Britain has joined the campaign and France intends to do so. Officials claim that the bombing will last for many months and possibly even two or three years.
At the same time, the West has made it clear ...
Interview with Vitaly Naumkin
The frantic activity of the Islamic State and the growing number supporters of extremist actions are causing alarm and anxiety in the West. The unabated conflict in Syria and fragile internal situation in Iraq are creating fertile ground for a strengthening in the position of the ...
Judging from recent statements by Russian officials, Moscow has decided to express cautious solidarity with Washington”s actions to fight against the terrorists of the Islamic State (IS), though there is no talk of any joint effort. Russia supported the latest UN Security Council resolution on the fight against terrorism. Yet Moscow also continues to see the negative implications of the actions of the coalition led ...
... renowned foreign experts.
Dr Sohail Mahmood: The sudden rise of the IS was treated as a good omen by radical Islamists over the world
Associate Dean & Head, Department of International Relations at Preston University, Islamabad
War against the "Islamic State"?
Sohail Mahmood
The current position of the USA toward the Islamic State (IS) does not necessarily mean the launching of a new round of war on terror. The USA is opposing the IS but will not intervene meaningfully to stop its advancement....
The military successes of the Islamic State (IS); the possibility of the ‘jihadist cancer’ spreading to Iraq and Syria’s neighboring countries; the uncertainty of the situation in and around Syria; the growth of internal tensions in a number of countries in the Arab ...
... useful domestic resource mobilization as a result of Western sanctions) — the importance of the Middle East will only continue to grow. This concerns Russia’s relations with the Arab world — as the latter unites in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) — as well as with non-Arab regional players such as Iran, Turkey and Israel.
Moscow has long tried to draw the attention of its foreign partners to the need to combat terrorist groups in Syria, which have now turned into the main ...
It seems that Moscow has yet to take a position on the rapidly changing situation in Iraq, including the US airstrikes against the Islamic State (IS), a movement that is regarded as a serious threat to Russia’s security. Russian analysts have carefully considered the assessment of IS made by US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel on Aug. 21 that IS is "as sophisticated and ...
The Caliphate Threat
Counteracting the attempts of the Islamic State group to seize Iraq has become a test case for possible U.S.-Iranian cooperation. And this test case has, by and large, failed.
The idea of a ”major deal” struck between the United States and Iran has recently been losing support....
