... governments.
Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy
of Sciences
Boris Dolgov, Russian Academy of Sciences
The armed confrontation in Syria between the Syrian regime and the radical opposition represents, together with the actions of the “Islamic State” (IS), the main military-political crisis in the Middle East today. It has also become one of the most acute global conflicts, involving all major world powers. The leading countries of NATO and the European Union (EU), Russia, China ...
On
November 13, the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, backed by US airstrikes, retook the Northern Iraqi town of Sinjar, located on the Road 47, about 60 miles from Mosul and 120 miles from Raqqa, in Syria, the self-proclaimed capital of the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL). The Iraqi Kurdish forces lost the control of the city in August 2014, during an overwhelming assault launched by the jihadists who were eventually stopped in their expansion by US airstrikes, and the subsequent ...
... marching for solidarity in January after the killings at the office of the Charlie Hebdo magazine might have mimicked national mobilization, but the government also cannot avoid launching a major retribution. It might include more intensive attacks on the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and a clearer and more coordinated allied strategy will certainly replace the rather haphazard attacks. Since France is unlikely to rally enough capabilities, even with the help of major European countries, for an effective ...
Jordan is oftentimes characterized as a Middle Eastern exception and paradox: an explicitly artificial colonial construct, and yet resilient and durable. The recent rise of new security challenges, such as the rise of the Islamic State, calls for a thorough analysis an exploration of the factors involved. Overall, there are strong reasons to believe that despite the war in Syria raging on Jordan’s doorstep, an acute domestic refugee problem, and echoes of the Arab ...
... conflicts (the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, in particular) and competing integration projects (the Eurasian project and the North Atlantic one) to terrorist activities committed under the banner of radical Islamism
[1]
. In the summer and autumn of 2014, the Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist grouping identified Russia and the Caucasus region as targets for its struggle
[2]
. How dangerous will the export of ISIS capabilities and ideology be for the Greater Caucasus region?
Various risk factors
Currently, the ...
As combat aircraft from Russia and the United States shadow each other over Syrian airspace, director Steven Spielberg has created an Oscar-quality film about what happened when the Soviet Union shot down an American spy plane near Sverdlovsk on May 1st 1960.
The event was a major embarrassment to the Eisenhower administration, which got caught by its own lies. The U-2 affair effectively scuttled the Paris “peace summit” between Eisenhower, Khruschev, deGaulle and MacMillan that was...
According to official statements, Russia deployed its Aerospace Defence Forces to support Bashar al-Assad in order to combat the ISIS terrorist group. Western leaders have subtly hinted that Moscow’s goal is to save al-Assad and protect its interests in Syria. The Ukrainian elite and its supporters in the US and Europe are convinced that Putin has started a war in Syria to distract international attention from his “aggression” in Ukraine
[1]
. In fact, the Russian operation is...
... several European ambassadors
and experts together in a meeting behind closed doors to mull over the ways out of the deadlocked relations between Russia and the European Union.
Participants suggested that waging war against a common foe in the form of Islamic State, which is banned in Russia, is unlikely to help Russia and the West overcome their differences. Today, this relationship seems to be in the middle of the deepest decline in recent history, coupled with a crisis of confidence that emerged ...
Speaking to reporters on Saturday at the 6th Xiangshan Security Forum in the Chinese capital of Beijing, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said Moscow has not yet received a request for military assistance from the Iraqi government in the fight against the Takfiri terror network, but it would consider such an appeal, Tass news agency reported.
"In case we receive a request, we shall consider it accordingly", Antonov emphasized adding, "What I can say now is that as of...
...
What about the danger of being drawn into wider involvement on the ground if, say, one of Russia's jets malfunctions and a pilot is forced to eject?
Wouldn't more ground troops be needed to rescue a pilot, especially one who falls into the hands of the Islamic State, which has shown its willingness to publicly torture enemy pilots to death?
"On the ground, Russian air group is relying on the support and help of the Syrian armed forces," Buzhinsky says.
As to whether that means the Syrian armed ...
