As Turkey conducts simultaneous campaigns in different theaters — including assistance to Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict — Moscow must be tempted to exploit the turbulence to extract concessions from Ankara.
Read More »Turkey and NATO May Be at Loggerheads, but They Still Need Each Other
The recent NATO summit in London underscored how Turkey’s relations with its allies are becoming increasingly confrontational. In the run-up to the meeting, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to veto the alliance’s defense plan for Poland and the Baltic states unless key Western powers became more attentive to Turkish …
Read More »Will Either Macron or Erdogan Back Down in the Eastern Mediterranean?
French President Emmanuel Macron has clearly decided to up the ante in a standoff with Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean, where France is backing Greece and Cyprus in their dispute with Ankara over natural gas reserves and maritime boundaries.
Read More »Libya’s Expanding Proxy War May Be the Ultimate Test of NATO’s Resilience
With Egypt reportedly on the brink of invading neighboring Libya, and troops from Chad said to be on their way north to join Gen. Khalifa Haftar in his fight to topple the internationally recognized government in Tripoli, what was already a complicated proxy war could soon become Africa’s first full-on …
Read More »After the U.S., Turkey Should Be Next to Leave Syria
With the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic crash dominating the headlines, the civil war in Syria has faded into media obscurity. But there is more bad news there that warrants the world’s attention.
Read More »Turkey’s Former Economy Czar Looks to Unseat Erdogan and the AKP
In a major political shake-up in Turkey, Ali Babacan, a former economy minister and once-close confidante of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, recently ended months of speculation and formally launched a new political party to challenge his old boss.
Read More »How Many Bridges Can Turkey’s Erdogan Burn?
Since his sweeping overhaul of Turkey’s political system in 2017, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has cemented his near-total control over the country. Despite the worst electoral setback of Erdogan’s career in the Istanbul mayoral election in June 2019, as well as a tailspinning economy exacerbated by the fallout from the …
Read More »High-Ranking Syrian Militant Commander Killed in Karabakh
A high-ranking Syrian militant commander was reportedly killed in the ongoing conflict in the Karabakh region, opposition activists reported on Tuesday.
Read More »Almost 30 Dead as Syrian Forces Clash With ISIS
Clashes on Tuesday in the Syrian desert between Russia-backed regime forces and Islamic State (ISIS) militants have killed almost 30 fighters.
Read More »Assad Receives Russian Delegation
On Thursday, President Bashar al-Assad received a Russian delegation from the Defense and Foreign Ministries headed by the Russian President’s Special Envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev.
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