Yearly Archives: 2023

Ukraine End Game: Putin & Medvedev Discuss Maps, Putting Kiev On The Menu

Putin and Medvedev recently made statements that took an expansive view of what “Russian lands” in Ukraine amounted to. At least as far as Putin is concerned, what he said at the November 3 meeting with members of the Civic Chamber is, philosophically, not all that different than the sort …

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The Iran, the war in Gaza, and the “convergence of the arenas” Dr. Raz Zimmt

In recent days, senior Iranian officials have renewed their threats to expand the war in theGaza Strip to additional fronts if a ceasefire is not reached soon and Israeli attacks in the GazaStrip do not stop. At the same time, senior Iranian officials continue to claim that Iran’s proxyorganizations in …

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Iraq condemns US strikes that killed Iran-aligned fighters

Iraq’s government condemned overnight U.S. airstrikes south of Baghdad that killed eight members of Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group Kataib Hezbollah, saying they were a “dangerous escalation” not coordinated with authorities. The U.S. has carried out two series of strikes in Iraq since Tuesday, in response to more than 60 attacks …

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ISIS Redux: The Central Syria Insurgency in October 2023

Following is the October 2023 installment of “ISIS Redux: The Central Syria Insurgency,” a monthly chronicle of attacks by the terrorist group ISIS in central Syria. ISIS carried out at least 19 confirmed attacks in October in the Homs, Hama, Raqqa, and Deir Ez Zor governorates. These attacks killed at …

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The post-October 7 US strategy in the Middle East is coming into focus

What lasting effect have Hamas’s October 7 attacks and Israel’s ongoing response in Gaza had on US strategy in the Middle East? The answer to this question is emerging, and recent days provided two windows into the Biden administration’s approach to the conflict and to Middle East and global security …

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Iranian-backed militia threatens to expand attacks if US airstrikes continue

An Iranian-backed extremist group threatened Wednesday to expand attacks on U.S. targets after U.S. aircraft killed multiple militants in airstrikes in Iraq following the first use of short-range ballistic missiles against American forces at al Asad Air Base west of Baghdad. U.S. fighter jets struck a Kataib Hezbollah operations center …

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Houthi Red Sea Ship Seizure Sparks Global Outrage

Yemen’s government, the EU, the UK and several other Western countries condemned the Houthi assault on the Galaxy Leader ship in the Red Sea this week, accusing the militia of endangering international maritime traffic. Yemeni Information Minister Muammar Al-Eryani called the Houthi hijacking a “full-fledged crime of piracy” and “state …

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Turkey’s Recent Escalation With The PKK And YPG Poses Enormous Risk – Analysis

With rising tensions between Turkey and Kurdish groups in Iraq and Syria, critical energy infrastructure is increasingly at risk of attack. While both sides experimented with attacking energy infrastructure such as pipelines in the past, the Turkish foreign minister’s recent declaration suggests that this will now become a regular feature …

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US Embarks On Proxy War Against Iran – OpEd

A massive US naval deployment in a wide arc of the so-called Greater Middle East is under way — stretching from Crete in the Eastern Mediterranean, into the Red Sea and the Bab el Mandeb and into the Gulf of Aden and all the way into the Gulf of Oman. …

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Immigration And Nationalism: A Challenge For Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) – OpEd

According to a September 2023 article in Politico, immigration remains a major topic of contention in German politics. The article states, for example, that the hard-right, anti-immigration party AfD (Alternativ fur Deutschland) maintains strong polling as a result of its stance on the topic. According to the same article, the …

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