... proxy governments who engage in WMD commerce to use it as a bargaining chip for other objectives. In spite of four Nobel Peace Prizes (Bunche, Arafat, Rabin, Peres), one of the big drivers of terrorism continues to be the destruction of the State of Israel. Libya and Palestine are cases where opportunistic leaders have helped drive that issue. While Washington spent around $3 trillion on its decade long war in Iraq the four decade presence of Moammar Gaddafi and Yassir Arafat on the world scene has ...
Despite the degree of uniqueness stemming from its particular specifics, each case of nuclear weapons proliferation also exemplifies one or more of the five main determinants of a state’s decision to acquire nuclear weapons that have been identified in the relevant literature: security, domestic politics, norms, technology and economics. While recognising the complexity of multi-causality, I would argue that a careful analysis of existing cases leads to sufficient explanations about the general...
In light of the recent developments in Syria and the apparently imminent US military intervention, the blog will take a short break from its relatively academic style and its thematic focus in order to brainstorm and share some thoughts on the broader picture of what is happening in the geopolitical arena of the region. Dangerous Double Standards Bashar al-Assad has reportedly used chemical weapons to attack, essentially, his own people. The first, logically obvious question is why would Assad essentially...
Experts on Middle Eastern political and strategic issues, share their insights on the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
The U.S. under Obama’s second term intensified its shuttle diplomacy efforts to revive peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians that broke down 3 years ago.
But will John Kerry’s economic plan for ...
Israel’s parliamentary elections in late January delivered a result that will see Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu remain in power. RIAC Member Pyotr V. Stegny, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation, talks about ...
... “point of separation” lay somewhere in the former Soviet Union, from which almost 2 million Jews emigrated. Today
12 percent of the world’s Jewish population
are former Soviet citizens or their descendants who chose to settle primarily in Israel, Germany or the United States. What are the factors that allow a nation with less than 65 years of history to promote a unity of political and religious beliefs both inside and outside their country, and to keep on expanding their influence in ...
Will Israel strike?
After some calm due to the regular rounds of talks between Iran and the ‘five plus one’ group held in Istanbul, Baghdad and Moscow, the Iranian issue is once again beginning to heat up.
Since late July, the main topic in Israeli media ...
... State
In 2011, Palestine applied for a full membership in the United Nations. Broad international support for this move forced the USA to proclaim its determination to veto this move in the Security Council.
Meanwhile, the impasse in the Palestinian-Israeli dialogue, and the still fragile peace between Fatah and Hamas, promise no quick progress either in Palestine’s entry into the UN, or in the real state building of houses in the occupied territories.
On September 23, 2011, Mahmoud Abbas, the ...
