Eurasia

Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s shuttle diplomacy to Ukraine and Russia this week offered some hope for peace but he needs to follow up with further dialogue to ensure his efforts are not a mere flash in the pan, analysts said. While his mission to persuade Moscow to declare a …

Ever since Russian troops first crossed the Ukrainian border on February 24, the Kremlin has employed characteristically euphemistic language in order to downplay the criminal nature of the unfolding invasion. This has led to the creation of an entire alternative reality where Russian troops are noble liberators waging a chivalrous …

Since Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the United States and Europe have deployed tools of economic warfare with the explicit goal of crippling the Russian economy and rendering the Kremlin unable to wage its war of aggression. The alacrity and scale of the Western response—which has included freezing Russia’s foreign-currency …

Regime cronies are seizing the oil and selling it in the black market for profit, according to al-Iqtissad. A media source revealed that the agreement achieved by Bashar al-Assad during his recent visit to Iran is to supply Syria with all its actual needs of oil, amounting to three million …

The strike came shortly before midnight on Monday, according to al-Araby al-Jadeed. A drone strike by the U.S.-led coalition in northwestern Syria killed a senior member of an Al-Qaeda-linked group, Syrian opposition activists and the U.S. military said on Tuesday. The attack on the suspected militant, who was riding a …

The attack is the deadliest since the start of a series of assassinations in the area, according to al-Modon. An unidentified armed group attacked the house of the former secretary-general of the Baath Socialist Party branch in the Daraa governorate, Kamal al-Atma, in the northern city of al-Sanamayn. They killed …

Iran-backed militias continue to arrest Syrian fighters who refuse to fight with them, according to Asharq al-Awsat. Iran-backed militias continue to arrest local fighters who refuse to participate in combing operations in the Deir-ez-Zor countryside desert. The militias arrested at least 28 Syrian members amid reports of apprehending others who …

The investigation identified European countries importing phosphates, like Italy, Bulgaria, Spain, and Poland, according to al-Souria Net. An investigative report revealed on Thursday that large quantities of Syrian phosphate were exported to several European countries, through a Russian company. A group of investigative journalists from Lighthouse Reports and the Organized …

Turkey, Finland and Sweden have signed a memorandum “that addresses Turkey’s concerns.” Did Turkey receive a green light to launch an operation in Northern Syria? Ankara’s unexpected decision to welcome Sweden and Finland into NATO led many observers to believe that it got tacit approval from western countries for an …

In an ideal scenario, Iraq would completely break free from Iranian control. Unfortunately, today’s world — and the Middle East in particular — rarely sees an ideal scenario come to light. The Goldilocks scenario is a mirage in our region. Instead, we usually witness a complicated and endless situation. This …