Eurasia

On Aug. 22, the northeastern Syrian city of al-Hasakah was inundated with leaflets condemning creeping Iranian influence in the area. The printed messages were plastered around several highly sensitive locations in the city center, including the local branch of the Ba’ath Party, the neighborhoods of al-Matar and al-Mahatah, as well …

Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine renewed international experts’ focus on Moscow’s earlier military intervention in Syria, launched in 2015, which often became framed as a “testing ground” for the weapons and tactics it now employs against Ukrainian cities. Certainly, direct military action of the type seen on the Ukrainian …

Syrian and Russian forces attacked the training camps of Syrian armed rebel groups in the northwestern province of Idlib on Wednesday, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported. The camps were targeted by Russian warplanes and Syrian missiles. An unspecified number of rebel fighters, including advisers and trainers from abroad, …

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seeking a meeting with US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly next week. The top Turkish diplomat has reiterated Ankara’s threat to block Sweden and Finland’s accession into NATO. Mevlut Cavusoglu’s remarks came as political observers set their sights …

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in Idlib has recently arrested several members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, in what the group says is a crackdown against those criticizing HTS’ position on the Turkish plan to normalize relations with the Assad government. In the first week of September, the town of Atarib in the western …

The sale follows the Iraqi federal government pressuring international firms to pull out of the autonomous region, which has led to concern from the US State Department. A French energy giant has completed the sale of its stake in an Iraqi oil field. TotalEnergies sold its 18% interest in the …

An extraordinary uptick in capital flows of unknown origin to Turkey has left many wondering whether Russian money could be involved. Turkey’s energy import bill — standing at $83.5 billion over 12 months in July — is a major factor behind its gaping current account deficit. And with Russia being …

The overall Consumer Price Index rose 0.1 percent in August, core was up 0.6 percent; up 8.3 percent and 6.3 percent year-over-year, respectively. Overall, the picture shows inflation persisting in a wide variety of areas where it seems that supply chain issues are being overcome. This is not a good …

In Washington, wide agreement exists that the Russian army’s performance in the Kremlin’s ongoing Ukraine “special military operation” ranks somewhere between lousy and truly abysmal. The question is: Why? The answer in American policy circles, both civilian and military, appears all but self-evident. Vladimir Putin’s Russia has stubbornly insisted on …

Winter is coming. As the European Union (EU) confronts Russia’s war in Ukraine and spiraling energy prices, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivered her State of the European Union Address on Wednesday in Strasbourg, France, with a focus on how the bloc needs to respond to the crisis. …