Moscow’s anger over Turkish arms supplies to Kyiv and compliance with U.S. sanctions threatens a rift between the on-off allies.
The ever-turbulent relationship between Russia and Türkiye is on the brink of a new crisis. In early June, Russian President Vladimir Putin openly reproached Ankara for providing military aid to Kyiv, and also complained about its cooperation with Western financial institutions over sanctions.
Understanding Turkey’s relationship with its Western allies is challenging, at times, non-sensical. Scholars debate between whether the West actually ‘lost’ Turkey, or whether Ankara actually chose to drift away from being identified as a stalwart member of NATO, or a key strategic ally of the US Some say, it’s neither. It is simply a function of a more independent and economically assertive Turkey, seeking strategic autonomy, that does not feel obligated to tow the western line at all times. Whichever explanation one sees as correct, is less important than the long list of grievances that isolates Turkey inside of NATO and its relationship with Washington. These range from Turkey’s foot-dragging over NATO expansion, adding Finland and Sweden to the alliance, all the way to actively supporting Russia’s war effort in Ukraine. Some argue that despite lingering problems, there is no need for alarm, as many of the disagreements are not new, are managed, and as a result, Turkey and the West can continue to coast along by co-operating in areas where they agree and agreeing to disagree, where they don’t. This is unsustainable.
As tensions between Israel and Hezbollah escalate, the specter of a full-scale war, with the potential to draw in the United States and Iran, demands the US’ immediate attention. The Biden-Harris Administration has tasked, in response, White House Senior Advisor Amos Hochstein with the responsibility of mediating efforts to de-escalate the conflict and bring stability to the Lebanon-Israel border.
Most people, if they were asked to list the great seafaring peoples of history, or more specifically the great naval fighting traditions, would come up with a fairly uniform list. There are obviously the two great naval powers of modernity in the British Empire and the United States (though the latter is now not without challengers), and the navigators of the first transatlantic empires in Portugal and Spain. China had a brief period of prolific shipbuilding and navigation in the early modern period, but was disinterested in trying to leverage this into durable power projection. Modern China seeks to rectify this missed opportunity. A deeper dive into the mental archives might churn up the ancient Phoenicians, or perhaps the Genoese and Venetian city states that dominated the Mediterranean in the early modern period. There are those wonderful Vikings, who managed to reach the Americas in their open hulled longboats, and terrorized and colonized much of Europe with their nautical reach. Few, however, would immediately think of the Romans.
Israel risks going to war against Hezbollah to ensure Benjamin Netanyahu’s political survival, but it would be a miscalculation that could lead to mass civilian deaths in both Lebanon and Israel, a former US military intelligence analyst has warned.
Iraq said on Monday it had arrested three people linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and suspected of planning attacks across the country, including on a key oil export pipeline in the north.
Interior ministry officials showed reporters three suspects dressed in yellow jumpsuits with their faces covered by masks and said they had comprised a cell connected to the PKK.
This investigation is co-published with Statewatch.
On 20 September 2023, Montserrat Marín Lopez, the executive director of the EU’s law enforcement training agency CEPOL, met in Cairo Mohammad Bin Ali Kuman, the secretary general of the Arab Interior Ministers’ Council (AIMC).
In-depth: Israeli demolitions in the Negev have intensified in the last six months, with up to 6,000 people in eight Bedouin villages at risk of displacement.
In May, more than 300 Palestinians in Wadi al-Khalil became homeless overnight when Israeli bulldozers flattened the entire Bedouin village in the Negev.
La semaine dernière, dans un important discours télévisé, le chef du Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, a menacé Chypre d’une action militaire si elle poursuivait sa coopération militaire avec Israël, dont l’armée s’est entraînée dans cette nation insulaire en vue d’une attaque contre le Liban.
The announcement of this merger follows reports of a military consolidation under the name of the Syrian Liberation Army.
The Ministry of Defense of the Syrian Interim Government announced on Tuesday, June 25, the merger of several of its formations within the National Army under the new name of the Renaissance and Liberation Movement.