... makes this rivalry far more dangerous than the USSR-US confrontation.
Andrey Kortunov:
Russian Foreign Policy in the Middle East: Achievements and Limitations
Thus far, it... ... other parts of the crumbling, yet interconnected world.
“Old” internal conflicts in Syria, Libya and Yemen, new-type protest movements demanding a change of the ruling... ... been in short supply on the market, was delivered to the port of Tartus.
Although the European Union expressed its support for the UN Secretary General’s appeal to lift...
... like it or not, the West, including Europe, are on the losing side of the conflict in Syria and this automatically limits leverage
During the 11
th
EU–Russia Expert Network on Foreign Policy (EUREN)
meeting
, Andrea Dessì,
Senior Fellow... ... will be following the process very closely.
There are multiple reasons as to why the European Union has limited influence over this situation. The EU has been sidelined... ... 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...
The Syrian Crisis: A Thorny Path from War to Peace
The second decade of the 21st century ... ... in precisely this region.
The conflict in Syria unfolded in a historical period when Russia–U.S. relations were slowly, but surely, deteriorating from the erstwhile partnership... ... tool to pressure Damascus and its allies. Apart from political considerations, the refusal to cooperate directly with the Syrian government is justified by citing the need...
... military-political approach to an economic one or in other words from risk based approach to opportunity-oriented
Since the start of the Russian military operation in Syria in 2015, the configuration of political forces in the Middle East began to undergo major changes. The dominance of the United ... ... the desire of the states of the region to diversify their ties does not mean a lack of desire to cooperate with the EU and the USA. Regional elites can use their contacts with Moscow to get greater benefits from the West by showing that they have alternative ...
... the profound systemic crisis is yet to be found. Most countries (Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, Saudi Arabia) have launched the needed socioeconomic reforms, albeit belatedly, but outcomes are difficult to predict. In other parts of the Arab world (Syria, Libya, Yemen), civil war has been the means of resolving questions of power. In these countries there is an inextricable tangle of ‘legitimate’ and ‘illegitimate’ governments, numerous militias, terrorist groups, and foreign military contingents,...
Russia should not necessarily wait for the Europeans to join its rebuilding efforts
As the United States eyes
new sanctions
on Syria, Russia increasingly finds it needs to work out solutions that would nonetheless push forward the post-conflict reconstruction ... ... differences
in this area. While Russia sees Syrian reconstruction mainly in terms of rebuilding the damaged physical infrastructure, European Union states link the reconstruction efforts to political transition.
Meanwhile in Moscow there are two competing views ...
... security agenda of the Middle East is indisputable. No matter what we discuss — the Syrian settlement, state-building in Iraq, civil war in Yemen or political dynamics... ... than it is part of the solution. Of course, Iran’s friends and partners, including Russia, argue the opposite. All these disagreements notwithstanding, the broad international... ... “destabilizing” activities in the region and is in any case not prepared to establish any causal effect between these matters and the implementation of the JCPOA. However, Russia...
It is becoming increasingly more difficult for Moscow to retain its position as an honest, if not completely independent, broker
On February 14, the leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran will meet in Sochi to discuss Syria and hold separate bilateral meetings. Recently, new developments have emerged that could prove dangerous if each state pursues its own hidden agenda. The three states depend on the Astana format for settling the Syrian issue.
By 2019, the Syrian ...
The main Russian event of 2018 was President Vladimir Putin’s re-election for another six-year term. In view of the nature of the Putin ... ... and expensive aerospace and naval weapons programs have effectively been pushed back to the mid-2020s or even beyond 2027.
In Syria, Putin will keep trying to convert the military success of the Russian intervention into political and diplomatic gains,...
A series of Russian civil-military concepts can create great benefits for Europe, the Middle East and Asia
Favorable International Situation
... ... hear about that). And the Skripal case. All these are secondary and solvable, issues, once the above hard-points are solved.
Syria
Andrey Kortunov:
Russia: the Power Broker in the Middle East?
If it is at all possible to speak of any “winner” in ...
