Recent Posts

What Putin Really Wants in Ukraine

Russia Seeks to Stop NATO’s Expansion, Not to Annex More Territory As 2021 came to a close, Russia presented the United States with a list of demands that it said were necessary to stave off the possibility of a large-scale military conflict in Ukraine. In a draft treaty delivered to …

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Turkey urges Russia to moderate demands on NATO over Ukraine

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is offering to mediate the crisis, but its not clear Turkey has enough leverage to do so effectively. Turkey’s top diplomat publicly urged Russia’s government to drop what he called Moscow’s “one-sided” demands regarding NATO and Ukraine. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Russia should take a …

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Kurdish leaders say poverty ‘biggest threat’ as it drives Syrians into arms of Islamic State

Offers of money by the Islamic State to join its ranks prove “irresistible” to those hit hard by Syria’s collapsed economy. A man being led by security guards shuffles into an interrogation cell in a military prison in the Kurdish-administered city of Hasakah in northeastern Syria. His hands are cuffed, …

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