From September 17-19, 2021, Russia held its eighth elections for the State Duma, which is the lower house of Russian Parliament. In my July 28 MEMRI report, “On Russia’s Upcoming Elections,” I opined that the outcome of these elections would be both expected and controversial.[1] After most of the independent …

President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey still intended to buy a second batch of S-400 missile defense systems from Russia, a move that could deepen a rift with NATO ally Washington and trigger new U.S. sanctions, Reuters reported. According to the report Washington says the S-400s pose a threat to its …

Tajikistan is interfering in the internal affairs of Afghanistan, Abdul Ghani Baradar, the acting deputy head of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) said on Sunday. “Tajikistan interferes in our affairs, for every action there is a reaction,” Baradar said in an interview with al Jazeera TV channel. A day …

A delegation of Palestinian clerics from Gaza, South Lebanon and Syria has been visiting Iraq in the recent days to attend the “Call of Al-Aqsa Procession”, organized by the Iraqi “Call of Al-Aqsa” (Nida Al-Aqsa) organization. The procession is held as part of the “Arba’een Pligrimage” march from Najaf to …

On September 24, 2021, some 300 Iraqi notables, both Sunnis and Shi’ites, held a conference in Erbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, calling for Iraq to join the Abraham Accords and establish diplomatic ties with Israel. They also called to abolish the law criminalizing contacts between Iraqi and Israeli citizens. The …

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the military junta in Mali has turned to “private Russian companies” for help in its fight against Islamist insurgents in the Western African country. “This is activity which has been carried out on a legitimate basis,” Lavrov said during a press conference at the …

The party that narrowly beat outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s bloc pushed Monday for a quick agreement on a coalition government, but Europe’s biggest economy could still be in for weeks of uncertainty after an election that failed to set a clear direction. Olaf Scholz, the candidate of the center-left …

Los resultados de las elecciones celebradas ayer en Alemania –de creer a los habitualmente certeros sondeos a pie de urna– no han deparado grandes sorpresas, al menos, en lo que se refiere a lo que preveían tozudamente las encuestas. La CDU, imbatible desde 2005 de la mano de Angela Merkel, …

Afghanistan’s Taliban government Sunday asked foreign airlines to resume commercial flights to and from Kabul, saying problems at the capital city’s airport had been resolved and the facility “is fully operational.” The Islamist group regained control of the war-torn country in mid-August following the collapse of the Western-backed Afghan government …

During a meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry reiterated the need to reach a binding legal agreement on the operation and filling of Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam in a manner that takes into account the interests of all parties. Egypt describes the dam …