... business community.
In his address to the audience, Dr. Suleimnapur offered a detailed analysis of key trends in Russia-Iran relations and regional problems that require cooperative participation of Moscow and Tehran, i.e. extremism and radicalism in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Iraq, the Caspian, Afghan drug trafficking, nuclear-free zone in the Middle East, and insufficient institutionalization of regional relationships.
Having also covered opportunities for Russia-Iran cooperation for handling ...
11-12 June 2014 — Global Zero convened a high-level conference in Rome on a Middle East WMD-free zone, bringing together government officials, former officials and experts from the Middle East and elsewhere in partnership with the Russian International Affairs Council.
At the meeting, participants engaged in frank discussions ...
On June 11-12, Rome was the venue of an
international conference
on establishment of a WMD-free zone in the Middle East sponsored by the Global Zero and Russian International Affairs Council.
The Russian delegation included Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, a RIAC member, Russian Ambassador in Italy Sergey Razov, RIAC President Igor Ivanov, RIAC Director ...
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...
The Intelligence Community, regardless of regime type, has famously always tried to co-opt and ultimately adopt advancements and evolutions in technology, especially in terms of media. Newspapers, radio, and television have long been appropriated in order to influence, massage, and outright manipulate messages and events important to the national interest. Often the question is not so much whether a country’s intelligence community engages in such activity but rather how explicit and open will...
Religious Animosity as a Result of Instability
Both the exodus of refugees and concerns over terrorism are on everyone’s lips today due to recent developments in the Middle East. However, there is another sensitive, but much less frequently discussed issue. The point at stake is that the conflict in Syria, which being not religious in nature, has often provoked hostility on religious grounds.
In his speech at the ...
It seems that the tendency toward a needless exacerbation of US-Russian relations, which started with the crisis in Ukraine, has now begun to spread to the Near East as well. This time the area of confrontation has become Syria. The Russian-US “honeymoon,” more precisely the time allotted for eliminating the Syrian chemical arsenal, will soon be over and all signs indicate that the plan will be fulfilled as agreed. But proposed Geneva III talks have clearly lost traction. Fierce fighting...
... greater esoteric foreign-policy point behind Russia’s commercial dealings: if the greatest national security objective for Russia is to maintain global diplomatic significance and international influence, then maintaining relevance within the Middle East must be a crucial part of the master plan. Syria is by far the most convenient partner for Russia in this endeavor. As such, Russian commercial initiatives are more about strategic allegiance and perceived political dependence and less about ...
Joining the G8's Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiative (BMENA), on March 4, RIAC received a delegation of the Foreign Ministry and noncommercial organizations from the United Arab Emirates.
During the discussion, RIAC was invited to contribute to three international ...
... unconventionality of the algorithm of the region’s democratic reformatting became more or less obvious. The Secretary General of the National Dialogue Party of Lebanon, Fouad Makhzoumi, who took part in the conference, compared it to solving a Middle Eastern “Rubik’s Cube.”
Attempts to solve the Middle Eastern “cube” have continued for decades. Sometimes it seemed that just one final move was needed to achieve the desired harmony of colors and proportions, but ...
