Archive

Nov. 18, Berlin: Dan Schueftan - Escalation in the Middle East? Israel in a region in upheaval

Why Syria and Iran are becoming Turkey's enemies, again

Thus forms the Middle Eastern "PKK circle:" the more people Assad kills, the more hardline Turkey's policies will become against Syria. This will, in turn, drive Iranian-Syrian action against Turkey through PKK attacks from Iraq. PKK attacks will rise. Turkey, Iran and the Assad regime are locked in a power game over Syria's future. Either Ankara will win and Assad will fall, or Tehran will win and Ankara, hurt by PKK attacks, will throw in the towel and let Syria be.

Globally Isolated and Economically Crippled: Why Hamas is Losing Gaza

A June poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that Hamas would get just 28% of the vote, a steep decline from the 44% plurality it won in 2006. Especially alarming for the Islamists is a precipitous drop in support for the party among Gaza's youth: two-thirds of the population is under 25. In a March survey taken in the afterglow of the protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square that led to the ouster of Egypt's dictator, Hosni Mubarak, more than 60% of Gazans age 18 to 27 said they too would support public demonstrations demanding regime change.

From Ally to Nemesis: How Erdoğan’s Islamists Hijacked Atatürk’s Nation

New Simon Wiesenthal Center Exclusive Report on Turkey: The political rise of anti-American, anti-Israel Turkish Islamists—not the U.S. decision to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003 nor Israel’s decision to defend its naval blockade against the so-called “Free Gaza Flotilla” in 2010 (pictured)—is chiefly responsible for derailing the historic U.S.-Turkish and Israeli-Turkish alliances.

Amir Taheri: Russia’s Syria game

Russia knows enough about the region to know that the Assad regime won’t stand much longer. This is why Putin is looking for a “median” solution: a new Syrian regime in which Moscow’s friends, meaning elements of the Assad regime, would have a place strong enough to offer the Russian navy an outlet when, and if, Ukraine throws it out.

September 29, 2011: Mideast Freedom Forum Berlin calls for the immediate release of the Egyptian Blogger Maikel Nabil Sanad

Press release: The non-profit Mideast Freedom Forum Berlin (MFFB) urges the German Foreign Minister to plead for the immediate release of the Egyptian blogger Maikel Nabil Sanad before his hearing of an appeal which is scheduled for October 4, 2011.

Matthias Küntzel: Das Schicksal des ägyptischen Kriegsgegners Maikel Nabil

Er gehört zu den profilierten Intellektuellen, die der arabische Frühling hervorgebracht hat: Maikel Nabil Sanad. Der Name des 25-jährigen Bloggers geht derzeit um die Welt - nicht, weil er auf den Bühnen der arabischen Hauptstädte brilliert, sondern weil er in Ägypten in Einzelhaft sitzt und weil sein Leben an einem seidenen Faden hängt. Maikel war der erste Ägypter, der letztes Jahr die Wehrpflicht verweigerte. Seine Begründung: Er lehne es ab, auf israelische Soldaten zu schießen. Er warnte vor den neuen Machtbefugnissen der ägyptischen Streitkräfte und behielt recht, setzt doch das Militär die Praxis wahlloser Verhaftungen und Demütigungen fort - Übergriffe, die Maikel auf seinem Blog akribisch dokumentierte.

EU sanctions on Syria oil and gas industry come with loopholes

The European Union, which buys 90% of Syria's oil exports, has slapped sanctions on the nation's oil and gas industry, but loopholes allow European energy companies to pull back only gradually from buying heavy crude or doing lucrative work in Syrian oil fields.

Oct. 19, Berlin: Where is Turkey heading? Burak Bekdil (Ankara) about Turkish Domestic- and Foreign Policy under Erdoğan’s AKP

Turkey is no great power

Despite its 80 million citizens, its rapidly growing economy and its large military, Turkey has failed to position itself as an influential regional element. The Islamist government’s new policy, which is premised on Neo-Ottomanism (a return to the Ottoman Empire’s glory days,) registered a series of stinging diplomatic failures in recent years.

The End of the myth of "resistance" for Hezbollah, Iran and Syria

Hezbollah is preparing itself to face the greatest challenge in its history, when the Special Tribunal for Lebanon [STL] reveals the truth behind the assassination of [former Lebanese Prime Minister] Rafik Hariri live on air all across the world. Following this, the image that Hezbollah has created for itself – as a representative of the resistance which defends Lebanon against Israeli aggression – will collapse. Rather than defending the people of Lebanon from others, the STL evidence may reveal that Hezbollah collaborated with a foreign state to kill the greatest Lebanese statesman, in order – ultimately – to seize power and control the country.

Iraqi Leader Backs Syria, With a Nudge From Iran

As leaders in the Arab world and other countries condemn President Bashar al-Assad’s violent crackdown on demonstrators in Syria, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq has struck a far friendlier tone, urging the protesters not to “sabotage” the state and hosting an official Syrian delegation. Mr. Maliki’s support for Mr. Assad has illustrated how much Iraq’s position in the Middle East has shifted toward an axis led by Iran. And it has also aggravated the fault line between Iraq’s Shiite majority, whose leaders have accepted Mr. Assad’s account that Al Qaeda is behind the uprising, and the Sunni minority, whose leaders have condemned the Syrian crackdown.

Analysis: Mubarak’s trial is about the future of Egypt

The big question is what “new Egypt” is going to emerge from the events of the January 25 Revolution. Will it be a country willing to go to the roots of the problem and to tackle the main obstacles to its progress? This would be a painful process, lengthy and convoluted, fraught with controversies and perhaps difficult conflicts. A process that may seem impossible in the foreseeable future, though it is the only one that can save this great and important country. If, on the other hand, as all the politicians said, the trial of Hosni Mubarak – the image of an old and ailing leader on a stretcher in a cage – becomes the defining event setting Egypt on a new path, then there is nothing to hope for.

Syria’s Struggle

Washington and Europe have talked for weeks about expanding existing sanctions that include travel bans and asset freezes for certain regime members. They need to act. Germany, Italy, France and the Netherlands — the top consumers of Syrian oil — should stop buying it. The exports are small enough that a suspension would have little effect on world prices but a big impact on Damascus.

Syria: Secret journey around a nation in revolt finds protesters are not flagging

Using pseudonyms, booking diversionary journeys, slipping quietly into blockaded towns and hiding with protesters, The Sunday Telegraph criss-crossed the nation and witnessed a Syria of "freed" towns, vast anti-regime demonstrations, violent melees and angry gunfights. It is the Syria that President Assad wants no one see, and it is the reason why he has sought to arrest, censor or ban foreign journalists.