... These are the questions addressed in the RAND think tank's recent
report
"
Fighting Shadows in the Dark. Understanding and Countering Coercion in Cyberspace
". The authors discuss cyber operations conducted by four states — Russia, China, Iran and North Korea — and try to determine whether those activities amounted to cyber coercion.
Starting with the study findings, we will highlight the following points. Cyber operations intended to coerce are a small subset of overall cyber operations ...
... and what consequences could that have for ISIS and international terrorism as a whole?
Andrey Kortunov, Michel Duclos:
Helping Iran to Make the Right Choice
The killing of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is definitely a further blow to ISIS as it eliminated its operational ... ... eliminate the head, the person that comes after is usually even more of a risk. The main priority now is to resolve the issue for thousands of ISIS fighters and affiliates, as well as wives and children who are in prison camps in North-East Syria and Iraq. This ...
... announced independent payment tool in relations with Iran (INSTEX) has not yet begun functioning even for humanitarian transactions. Without political support from the US, it could quickly wind up on the US Department of Treasury’s SDN list. Trump’s refusal to make exceptions for some European countries (Italy and Greece) in oil trade with Iran was also somewhat humiliating.
In the meantime, Iran made symbolic but unequivocal steps on withdrawing from the JCPOA. It is hard to argue against Tehran’s logic: if the deal is violated by one side and these violations lead to serious if not ...
Sooner or later, the Emerging Situation Will Force the Trump Administration to Make the Difficult Choice between the JCPOA and a New War in the Middle East
In the last few months, the U.S.¬–Iran confrontation has been rapidly and steadily plunging the Middle East into the atmosphere of an impending armed conflict. The main stumbling block for Tehran and Washington is the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the two states differed ...
... an arena of geopolitical confrontation. Russia shares Israel’s concerns about ensuring security, but proceeds from the assumption that other states of the region
have their own national interests
in this area. In response to a well-known set of accusations against Iran,
Patrushev pointed out
that it is unacceptable for Moscow to view Iran as the main threat to regional security, let alone equal it with ISIS.
The trilateral meeting in Jerusalem showed significant differences in the approaches of Russia and the ...
The new sanctions war against Iran has been unleashed, and there is no way of stopping it
Sanctions researchers and enforcers are acutely intrigued by the question of whether the new sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran would be effective. By withdrawing from the Joint ...
... have the power, means, normative and regulatory support, but also the political will to actively use destructive ICT capabilities. In this regard, we should note that all of the United States’ current strategic planning documents name Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea as its main opponents, and these countries are likely to be the targets of any cyberattacks. National Security Advisor of the United States John Bolton confirmed as much at a conference held by
The Wall Street Journal
this past ...
... has been riveted on the situation in the Strait of Hormuz. On May 12, four tankers owned by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were attacked by unknown forces when entering the Strait off the coast of Fujairah. On June 13, this time near the Iranian coast, two more tankers flying the flags of the Marshall Islands and Panama were attacked. The incidents occurred against the backdrop of another exacerbation in U.S.–Iran relations and the United States imposing more sanctions on Tehran.
Nobody ...
China’s flexible energy policy and the US sanctions against Iran and Venezuela
In the last few years, China’s energy policy has changed radically owing to both the changed priorities in domestic policy and sharp bifurcations in the international situation. As the growth pace of the national economy slowed ...
Without a clear explanation of the reasons for the detention of the vessel by the EU, Tehran’s claims remain natural
The seizure of an Iranian tanker by the authorities of Gibraltar has aggravated Iranian-British relations and could lead to further escalation. The oil transported by the Iranians was supposedly intended for the Syrian government. Tehran has already threatened to respond ...
