... it’s not always possible to see eye to eye with the U.S. in certain matters. We can only hope in the long-term that the EU and Russia’s shared embracement of multilateralism and the UN may provide a solid groundwork on which to foster more cooperative ... ... Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed during a U.S. raid. What do you make of his death 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 ...
... how to cope with three recent developments that call for significant adjustments in the Russian strategy.
First, the defeat of ISIS, which is definitely a positive development for everybody engaged in Syria and in neighboring countries, has an important ... ... conflicts that were put aside in order to fight the common enemy, are back to stage. It might become increasingly difficult for Russia to forge even tactical alliances in the region, not to mention strategic coalitions.
Second, the current Israeli-Iranian and US — Iranian rift immensely complicates Russia’s role as an ‘honest broker’ in the region. Neither Israel,...
... Timur Makhmutov, RIAC Deputy Director of Programs, and Davood Kiani, IRAS President, moderated the meeting.
On February 6 Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) held a video conference with the Institute for Iran-Eurasia Studies (IRAS) on Russia’s and Iran’s positions in the Middle East in post-ISIS period.
The video conference consisted of two sessions: the presentations made by the speakers and the following discussions between the sided (Q&A). Timur Makhmutov, RIAC Deputy Director of Programs, and Davood Kiani, IRAS President, moderated the ...
... situation is quite different: Assad has obliterated many of the rebel strongholds, most notably (and most tragically) Aleppo, and ISIS, too, has been severely weakened, facing its final days in Mosul, Iraq, one of its two last major strongholds, and in the ... ... “capital;” furthermore, not only does Assad’s government have the active of support of the Shiite Lebanese militia Hezbollah and of Iran’s military on the ground (among other Shiite militias), but it also enjoys the robust military support of Russia and its vaunted air force. And even though Assad’s military has been whittled to down a shell of its former self (even ...
... a lot more for Saudi Arabia than a new alliance with Russia ever could. In general, Russia hardly has a strong position in the Middle East; Putin's desperation to help Assad, his one main ally in the region (it would be a stretch to say that Iran and Russia are general allies even as they are allies in the Syrian Civil War), even at the expense of empowering ISIS, is a reflection of this weakness. And as Putin cozies up to dictators like Assad and Sisi, he risks severely undermining any chance of real long-term gains where he and Russians seek them the most: in Europe. Democracy-loving Europe will not sit ...
