Recent Posts

Iran Nuclear Talks Floundering

The next round of talks to restore the 2015 multilateral Iran nuclear deal, scheduled for November 29, is unlikely to produce any breakthroughs. Iran’s demands for rapid and sweeping sanctions relief, the expansion of its nuclear program, and its regional attacks do not augur well for the coming round of …

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The United Arab Emirates Engages Assad

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foreign Minister’s visit to Syria furthers efforts by President Bashar Al Assad to break out of the isolation caused by his military response to the uprising. The UAE’s engagement with Assad feeds criticism that the Gulf state supports a “counter-revolution” against challenges to established Arab …

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Turkey Sends More Syrian Mercenaries to Libya

Turkey has sent a new batch of Syrian mercenaries to Libya despite local and international demands to withdraw all foreign forces ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for December 24. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said 150 mercenaries from the pro-Ankara Libyan National Army, including al-Majd Corps, …

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Georgia and NATO: The case for a 2.0 partnership

Under the Biden administration, calls for a NATO Black Sea strategy have amplified. A gamechanger for the much-needed regional strategy is Georgia’s and Ukraine’s path to membership. NATO’s strategic reassessment, to be finalized next year at the Madrid summit in June, will likely fall short of granting Ukraine and Georgia …

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The UK and Russia in the Middle East: Dialogue is Vital

Despite difficult relations between the UK and Russia in recent years, their respective approaches to the Middle East show areas of common ground which can be built upon through dialogue. UK–Russia relations have been, at best, complicated over the past decade. This has also been apparent in the Middle East …

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