... Moscow. The same applies to Russia-Saudi Arabia relations that continue to develop despite the two states’ differences in Syria or Saudi Arabia’s conflict with Iran, a country that Russia has friendly relations with.
Second, most countries of the Middle East have a lack of trust towards the West. In their opinion, the Ukrainian conflict proves that the West resorts to
double standards
which are
applied
to the issue of migrants and to other armed conflicts (the analogy with the Israel–Palestine conflict) or to weapons deliveries.
Third,...
... nationalist movements are waiting for the necessary external and internal conditions to mature
The events of the “Arab Spring” that began 10 years ago were considered a tectonic shift, capable of overturning the previous development logic of the Middle East. While the collective West counted on “democratisation” due to their liberal ideology, Russia or China called for a more cautious assessment of what was happening. The region itself has been torn apart by the clash of ideologies, identities, wars, terrorism, drought, and,...
The interview with Dr. Gilles Kepel
Dr. Gilles Kepel is a French political scientist and Arabist, specialized in contemporary issues of the Middle East and Muslims in the West. He is a professor and director of the Middle East and Mediterranean chair at Université Paris Sciences et Lettres. He is an author of 20 books. His latest
book
, “Beyond Chaos: The Crisis in the Mediterranean and the Middle East,” is an analysis ...
How can Moscow respond to a possible US strike on Syria?
The aggravation of rivalry between Russia and the West in the past few months is raising the urgent question of a possible further escalation of tensions and its forms and consequences. Political relations between Moscow and Western capitals have gone beyond the critical point. The threadbare thesis ...
... Forecasting. A systemic approach has been taken to identify the most important areas of Russia’s foreign policy for 2018, as well as the key threats and opportunities for the country on the global arena. The geographic scope of the forecasts covers the West, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East and the post-Soviet states.
The authors hope that the ideas and conclusions provided in this report will be of use to the Russian authorities when making foreign policy decisions, and will come in handy for experts in international affairs,...
... package of deals but have neither the time nor enough self-restraint for this. In Syria, Russia and the United States found themselves on the brink of open conflict and a new round in the war of sanctions. In this sense 2016 also cleared the air. The West has to take Russia into account in the Middle East, but will not become its strategic ally or even a partner in the foreseeable future. The West will maintain ties with Russia wherever it cannot do without them. It will make episodic attempts to isolate Moscow in other areas. The past year ...
... on the agenda will demand completely different involvement, resources and skills. What is more important, they will require a global strategic vision.
The future of the boosted “Russia’s return to the Middle East,” the fate of the Middle East, and, quite possibly, the fate of Russia and the West are up to our ability to meet these demands.
In the historical-philosophical perspective, one has every right to consider the transformation that has thrown the Middle East into chaos as the revival of premodernism and the primordial forms of societal organization. However, the epoch of postmodernism is not over and will not come to an end until the Western world exists as the most vivid manifestation of pluralism and postmodernism. In actuality, the heart of the matter lies in the fact that postmodernism suggests the simultaneous existence of multiple narratives and practices, the multiplicity of ...
... community, including Christians, rejects Russian commentators’ attempts to interpret the Syrian campaign in religious terms as a holy war, the Russian Orthodox Church’s religious mission, etc. Such statements not only revive the image of Western crusades in the Middle East but also echo with the offensive missionary rhetoric of George Bush Jr.
REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah
Salvatore Babones:
Russia Has Been the Voice of Reason – On Iraq,
on Libya, and Now on Syria
Russian domestic propaganda correlates poorly ...
