September, 2020

• 29 September

  Russian dominance in the Black Sea: The Sea of Azov

  Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 was about maximizing power. Moscow aims to turn the Black Sea into a Russian lake to advance its national interest far and wide. For its part, NATO has been slow to respond to this challenge.

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• 29 September

  Turkey’s Sahel strategy

  On Sept. 9, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu embarked on a three-day trip to West Africa, which included stops in Mali, Senegal, and Guinea-Bissau. During his trip, Cavusoglu emphasized Turkey’s support for Mali’s post-coup transition process, struck infrastructure-related commercial deals with Guinea-Bissau, and underscored its commitment to engaging with multilateral …

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• 29 September

  Is Iran Losing Its Grip on Its Proxy Militias in Iraq?

  Earlier this month, a prominent researcher and security expert in Iraq, who was close to the new prime minister and to Western governments, was gunned down outside his home in Baghdad. While the identify of his assailants remains unknown, Hisham al-Hashimi had many enemies, given his history of speaking out …

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• 29 September

  Is Syria’s Assad as Weak as He Appears?

  It might seem like an all-too familiar story: With its economy cratered by civil war, and new pockets of anti-regime resistance, Syria is on the verge of state collapse. President Bashar al-Assad isn’t just on the back foot; he is weaker than ever. Is he about to fall?

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• 29 September

  With ISIS Resurgent, Can Iraq’s New Government Avoid a Repeat of the Past?

  BAGHDAD—The Islamic State is stepping up its attacks in Iraq, fulfilling the expectations of many analysts that the extremist group would mount a comeback after the Iraqi government declared victory over it in 2017.

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• 29 September

  This New, Narrow Vision for the Middle East Isn’t Really About Peace

  Imagine a different Middle East. “Were all outstanding hostilities resolved, border formalities simplified and roads unblocked, one might breakfast beside the Mediterranean in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, drive up to the Syrian capital of Damascus for lunch, race south to Jordan’s Amman for tea, make Jerusalem for an early …

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• 29 September

  Trump’s Iran Strategy Is Still Just an Anti-Obama Vendetta

  Since President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the international deal designed to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb, the time it might take Tehran to build such a weapon if it so chooses has dropped from more than a year to just a few months. The world …

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• 29 September

  Can Lebanon Rebuild Not Just Beirut, but Its Broken Political System?

  The devastating explosion that tore through Beirut earlier this month exposed the elite corruption at the heart of Lebanese governance. The blast itself, which was almost certainly caused by a stockpile of highly explosive ammonium nitrate that had sat unguarded at Beirut’s port since 2013, may not have been deliberate.

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• 29 September

  Iran and Saudi Arabia Battle for Supremacy in the Middle East

  The struggle between Iran and Saudi Arabia for dominance in the Middle East has insinuated itself into nearly every regional issue, fracturing international alliances and sustaining wars across the region, while raising fears of a direct conflict between the two powers.

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• 29 September

  Syrian Economy Lost 442 Billion Dollars over Eight Years

  A recently published report estimated the size of the losses suffered by the Syrian economy during the last eight years, at more than 400 billion dollars. The Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), in cooperation with St. Andrews University in the UK, issued a report in which it …

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