... Eastern Ukraine and economic sanctions against Russia. Turkey, on the other hand, is close to being isolated from international affairs. Turkey has historically been NATO’s ally. Still, Washington is supporting the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria, which is considered in Ankara as a branch of the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), which regularly organizes terrorist attacks in Turkey. The coup attempt, which put Turkey’s relations with its Western partners into further trouble, made ...
... than Any Other Candidate: There’s Something Going On!
In addition, Trump has put forward policies closer to the Kremlin’s policies than any other major candidate for the presidency. Notably:
Trump wants the U.S. to defer to Russia in Syria and let it “fight ISIS” there, and agreed with Putin’s backing of Syrian's murderous President Bashar al-Assad.
Trump is against the U.S. taking a large role in helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression,...
... Turkey’s policy was meant to be a response to the Arab street, which demanded democratization and transparent governance. On the other hand, the deteriorating socioeconomic situation in these countries, especially on Turkey’s borders with Iraq and Syria, spelled new opportunities as well as risks.
The risks proved to be higher and the result of the new course was the growing isolation of Turkey. Analysts in Europe (and elsewhere)
spoke
of a policy of “Neo-Ottomanism,” a movement dictated ...
... largely fell in line with their ideology.
The blasts in Turkey on June 28 and Saudi Arabia on July 4 were different in that the Islamic State was targeting Sunnis, the very sect the group appeals to in its videos and statements.
Reuters
Map of Iraq and Syria showing the areas
controlled by Islamic State
Muslims around the world condemned these attacks and even some Sunni extremist groups rushed to speak against the atrocities perpetrated by the Islamic State which speaks volumes about the lengths it ...
On June 30, 2016, the United States announced that it would be open to limited military cooperation with Russia in Syria against the al Qaeda linked Jabhat al-Nusra. Washington’s cooperation proposal was conditional on Russia pressuring Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to cease military assaults against Syrian rebels the US government does not label as terrorists....
... Andrey Kortunov, to discuss a realistic politcal roadmap for solving the Ukraine crisis (read
Part 1
). In the second part of the interview, they talked about the Russo-European Relations beyond Europe.
ALEXANDER GRAEF: What is the Russian position on Syria?
ANDREY KORTUNOV: There are three misconceptions about the Russian position towards Syria and the Middle East. Firstly that Russia wants to support and save Assad at any costs. This is wrong. Assad is not a close friend of President Putin. Russia’s ...
... Iran lives by strict Islamic principles. In other words reducing the Middle East to a generic understanding of Islam is as wrong as to overly generalize the identity of Muslims, the mistake the author seems to have made on both accounts.
Where does Syria fit in the War for the Greater Middle East?
Andrew Bacevich’s book is especially timely today because it may give a hint as to where the Syrian conflict fits within the narrative of America’s war for the Greater Middle East. According ...
... General Andrey Kortunov, Deputy Director on Science of RAS Institute for Oil and Gas Studies Vassily Bogoyavlensky, RIAC Program Manager Lyudmila Filippova and MGIMO Senior Lecturer Igor Istomin were in Toronto at international conference “
Ukraine, Syria and the Arctic – From Challenges to Solutions” sponsored by the Institute for
21st Century Questions
, the
Global Brief magazine
and the
Canadian Forces College
. The event was also attended by representatives from Canada, the United ...
Syrian crisis opens new chapter in the history of political relations between Russia and Israel
The recent visit to Russia by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu triggered a wave of speculation about signs of a rapprochement between Russia ...
... and Global Brief Magazine, in partnership with the Canadian Forces College.
Day One will be devoted to understanding and exploring the causes of, and potential practical solutions to Russia-West conflict and tensions, in both the Eastern Europe and Syrian theatres.
Day Two will explore Arctic geopolitical, economic, environmental and scientific futures, and will examine practical avenues for Canada-Russian forward cooperation in the Arctic.
The Russian International Affairs Council will be represented ...
