August, 2023

• 3 August

  Is the Middle East’s Makeover a Mirage?

  

  Why a Spate of Diplomatic Deals Won’t End Conflict In mid-July, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan completed a high-profile tour of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, a trip that brought tens of billions of dollars in investment deals in Turkey’s struggling economy. The trip was the culmination …

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• 3 August

  Rewriting Russia’s Pursuits in the Middle East

  

  In an interview, Leonid Nersisyan examines Moscow’s stakes in the Levant and North Africa in light of the stalemated war in Ukraine. Leonid Nersisyan is a defense analyst focusing on the foreign and military policy of Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States region. He also follows the defense industry …

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• 3 August

  Contrary Impulses in Iraqi Shiism Today

  

  Is the community a purveyor of revolutionary change, a defender of the status quo, or a combination of both? We are in the Muslim month of Muharram, a time of mourning for Shia Muslims, when they commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussein. Over the centuries, rituals during Muharram have been …

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• 3 August

  Gender and Politics

  

  Preface The text has aim to investigate the situation of female representation in politics in the industrialized contemporary Western democracies. Though women are more and more visible in politics, we can not yet say they have taken an equal position compared to men. Of course, they have had to take …

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• 3 August

  Niger Is Fourth Country In Sahel To Experience An Anti-Western Coup – OpEd

  

  At 3 a.m. on July 26, 2023, the presidential guard detained President Mohamed Bazoum in Niamey, the capital of Niger. Troops, led by Brigadier General Abdourahmane Tchiani closed the country’s borders and declared a curfew. The coup d’état was immediately condemned by the Economic Community of West African States, by …

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• 3 August

  A Vision From Vilnius – Angst About China

  

  On the heels of the recent NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, it has again become clear that this small but ardent Baltic country is emblematic of a restructuring and rebalancing of European relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and its Communist Party leadership. In 2021, Lithuania dared to …

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• 3 August

  Islamic State attack in Syria targets oil convoy, kills 5 soldiers: Monitor

  

  Islamic State sleeper cells have regularly attacked government forces in central and eastern Syria despite losing the last of their territory in 2019. Suspected Islamic State militants attacked a Syrian military convoy in the Syrian desert overnight on Monday, resulting in the death of five government soldiers and the injury …

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• 3 August

  Iran, Belarus sign defense MOU as they explore cooperation on drones

  

  Belarus may start playing a bigger role in Russia’s use of Iranian drones in the war on Ukraine. Iran and Belarus signed a defense agreement on Monday, furthering cooperation between the two countries that now involves Shahed drones production that Russia has deployed in its war in Ukraine. Iranian Defense …

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• 3 August

  Turkey, Egypt seek to boost mutual trade by 50% in 5 years

  

  In the first visit of its kind in a decade, Egypt’s trade and industry minister traveled to Turkey on Tuesday. During a visit to Ankara, the first in a decade, Egypt’s Trade and Industry Minister Ahmed Samir Saleh and his Turkish counterpart Omer Bolat, announced Tuesday that they would seek …

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• 3 August

  UK formally recognizes genocide against Yazidis by Islamic State

  

  The United Kingdom is the latest country to recognize the 2014 mass slaughter of Yazidis by the Islamic State as genocide. The United Kingdom joined the United Nations and 17 other governments and international bodies today in formally acknowledging that acts of genocide were committed against the Yazidi people by …

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