Orientul Mijlociu

Conflict Trends Update

BALTIC SEA

Two explosions Monday damaged the Nord Stream pipelines, which carry Russian natural gas to European markets, causing leaks into international waters off a Danish island. Russia had switched off the pipelines earlier in September amid tensions with the West over its war in Ukraine. European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg both described the blasts as “sabotage”. The press quoted unnamed European leaders pointing the finger at Moscow, which denied any role, suggesting instead that Washington had most to gain from damaging the pipelines. Crisis Group expert Giuseppe Famà says the incidents will not only add immediate pressure on European gas prices but also cast Nord Stream’s future into doubt as Europe strives to diversify its energy supply sources in order to curb its dependence on Russia.

US says citizen killed in Iran strikes on Iraqi Kurdistan

The United States said Thursday that one of its citizens was killed in Iranian strikes on Iraqi Kurdistan as it separately announced fresh enforcement of sanctions on Tehran’s oil sales.

Iran’s clerical state on Thursday carried out cross-border strikes, with 13 reported dead, amid unrest at home sparked by the death in custody of an Iranian Kurdish woman by the notorious morality police.

Iran’s Crisis of Legitimacy

An Embattled Regime Faces Mass Protests—and an Ailing Supreme Leader

Early this month, the Iranian rumor mill cranked into overdrive amid reports that Iran’s 83-year-old supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who survived prostate cancer surgery in 2014, was again gravely ill. On September 16, the New York Times reported that emergency bowel surgery had left Khamenei bedridden and too frail to sit upright, citing four anonymous sources said to be “familiar with his health situation.” In the wilder corners of Persian-language social media, claims that Khamenei was on his deathbed gave way to speculation that he had already died. As has happened for more than a decade, such rumors quickly morphed into feverish conjecture about how Iran’s Assembly of Experts, the body of 88 Islamic jurists who choose the supreme leader, would select Khamenei’s successor and lively debate over the relative merits of the clerics jockeying for the role.

Iraqi parliament speaker resigns

Iraqi parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi resigned from his post but is expected to be re-elected.

The Iraqi parliament announced today that it will hold a session on Sept. 28 to vote on parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi’s resignation.

Halbusi was elected last January by the triple alliance of Shiite Sadrists, the Sunni Taqaddum bloc and the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

Syrian opposition launches program to teach Kurdish language in Aleppo

Syrian Kurds in the areas of the Syrian opposition welcomed the decision to launch a program to teach the Kurdish language at the opposition-affiliated Free Aleppo University in the city of Azaz.

The Free Aleppo University, affiliated with the Syrian opposition’s Interim Government, in Azaz in the northern countryside of Aleppo has started a training program for teaching the Kurdish language.

Are Turkish drones complicating disputes in Central Asia?

Kyrgyzstan’s use of Turkish drones in a border dispute with Tajikistan leaves Turkey in a tight spot on how to balance its ties in Central Asia, a region where it has long sought to expand its influence.

Turkey’s efforts to add strategic depth to its ties with Central Asia appear to have hit a stumbling block, albeit not a big one, amid controversy over Kyrgyzstan’s use of Turkish combat drones in border clashes with Tajikistan.

Melonissolini!

İtalya’da erken genel seçimlerin ilk sonucu şaşırtıcı değil. Faşist lider Mussolini’nin ardılı olarak kabul edilen İtalya’nın Kardeşleri Partisi (Fdl) lideri Meloni oyların yüzde 26’sını aldı. İçinde bulunduğu aşırı sağ ittifak yüzde 44 civarında oy aldı, hükümeti çok büyük olasılıkla bu yelpaze kuracak.

Fdl 2018’de aldığı yüzde 4.4 oyu, altı kat artırdı.

Iran’s Crisis of Legitimacy

An Embattled Regime Faces Mass Protests—and an Ailing Supreme Leader

Early this month, the Iranian rumor mill cranked into overdrive amid reports that Iran’s 83-year-old supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who survived prostate cancer surgery in 2014, was again gravely ill. On September 16, the New York Times reported that emergency bowel surgery had left Khamenei bedridden and too frail to sit upright, citing four anonymous sources said to be “familiar with his health situation.” In the wilder corners of Persian-language social media, claims that Khamenei was on his deathbed gave way to speculation that he had already died. As has happened for more than a decade, such rumors quickly morphed into feverish conjecture about how Iran’s Assembly of Experts, the body of 88 Islamic jurists who choose the supreme leader, would select Khamenei’s successor and lively debate over the relative merits of the clerics jockeying for the role.