Iranian Minister of Energy Ali Akbar Mehrabian said the Islamic Republic has signed a long-term strategic electricity contract with Iraq to provide its Arab neighbor with sustainable energy supplies. Iran is already a key energy provider to Iraq which faces chronic electricity shortages despite sitting on the world’s fourth largest …
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Ukraine War Advancing Central Asia Development
The Russia–Ukraine War and Western sanctions on Russia has seen a sudden rise in connecting Central Asia to China and Russia because of the disruption in international trade and transport routes caused by the conflict. Even Iran has seen a sudden rise in its importance as a transit and transport …
Read More »Armenia’s Refusal To Withdraw Forces From Karabakh Jeopardizes Peace Efforts
On July 15, in a cabinet meeting about the results of the first half of 2022, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan disclosed some details of the recent negotiations with Russia and Armenia on the withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. He reiterated that Armenia …
Read More »Iran: End Of Regime In Sight
US Vice President Mike Pence’s meeting with Iranian opposition leader Maryam Radjavi at the Mojahedin’s headquarters in Albania and his strong support for the Democratic Alternative (National Council of Resistance of Iran) signal the prospect of the end of the regime in power in Iran. Lessons from history This is …
Read More »White House confirms plans to send US-NATO jets to fight Russia
In what may be the most provocative escalation of the US-NATO war against Russia to date, the White House has confirmed that the US is planning to send NATO-made fighter jets to Ukraine. John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, confirmed that the Pentagon is discussing “providing …
Read More »A tale of two greetings: Decoding Biden’s hand-to-hand diplomacy in the Middle East
Last Wednesday, somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan informed reporters traveling with Joe Biden to the Middle East that the president would not be shaking hands during his trip. The stated reason was the recent uptick in COVID-19. But in reality, the White House—which less …
Read More »Reading between the lines of the world’s top human-trafficking report
Survivors of human trafficking lack the necessary assistance from governments, while offenders continue to operate with impunity. Victim identification is down—but bans on the import of goods made by victims of forced labor are on the rise. Survivor leadership matters, and more countries than ever are listening to victims. These …
Read More »Ukraine can win
In many circles it has become de rigueur to assert that Ukraine cannot hope to prevail against the Russian military in the current war. If this assessment is correct, the obvious outcome of the conflict would be a negotiated settlement leaving Russia in possession of presently occupied territories in exchange …
Read More »Russia has struggled in Ukraine, but everyone else has still lost
MIDDLE ISRAEL: Moscow’s strategic setbacks in Ukraine have yet to spell victory for anyone else. Having listened to Nikolai Gogol read to him from his Dead Souls, which mocked feudal Russia through a plan to buy dead serfs’ souls, Alexander Pushkin at one point burst into laughter only to suddenly …
Read More »President Biden and Iran: the Cost of a Missed Opportunity
President Joe Biden initially picked much of the low-hanging fruit from the misery of the Trump years. He revived the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and returned the United States to the Paris climate accords; the World Health Organization; and the Human Rights Council of the United Nations. But Biden …
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