Turkey has worked hard in recent years to establish itself as something of a Middle Eastern power broker. With Brazil, it managed to negotiate a nuclear fuel exchange agreement with Iran last month while Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan launched a strategic partnership with Russia in February. On Thursday, the architect of Turkey’s newfound regional […]
In the wake of North Korea’s sinking of the South Korean corvette Cheonan last March, the Obama Administration has been trying to muster Chinese support for renewed sanctions against the Stalinist regime. So far, its efforts have been frustrated by division within Beijing’s ruling class. After international investigators proved that the North had been responsible […]
The United States are unlikely to persuade Syria to become more collaborative.
After just nine months in power, Japan’s prime minister Yukio Hatoyama resigns.
Turkey chastises Israel but is really looking at Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program.
The Israeli navy attacked half a dozen ships carrying activists and aid to the Gaza Strip on Monday. Some ten to fourteen people were killed in the confrontation that ensued. Many more were injured. The small flotilla, led by a Turkish ship with some 600 people on board, was carrying pro-Palestinian activists and humanitarian aid […]
“NATO is much more than Afghanistan,” former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told the Atlantic Council on May 19. Supreme Allied Commander Admiral Jim Stravidis agreed, noting that although Afghanistan is important, the alliance is a “very, very active” fighting force engaged in missions all over the world. Albright was invited by Secretary General […]
As evidence mounts that the South Korean warship sunk last March was indeed brought down by a North Korean torpedo, tensions in Korea are rising. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has pronounced economic sanctions on the North which has reportedly begun to ready troops. The intentional sinking of a foreign naval vessel is certainly cause […]
The Taliban claimed responsibility on Sunday for a nighttime assault on NATO’s largest base in southern Afghanistan. In the second such an attack on a major ISAF installation in one week, insurgents launched rockets, mortar fire and automatic weapons while attempting to storm Kandahar Air Field. Foreign Secretary William Hague of the United Kingdom and […]
With American secretary of state Hillary Clinton underway to the East Asia, a crisis is looming in the waters of the Yellow Sea where a South Korean corvette sunk last March, killing 46. South Koreans authorities have ascertained that a North Korean torpedo was responsible for the sinking. The North has denied any involvement, threatening […]
As Brazil and Turkey reached a nuclear fuel exchange agreement with Iran on Sunday night, the most important lesson to the West may well be that the traditional nuclear powers are no longer alone at their game. According to a joint declaration released on Monday, Iran pledges to deposit 1,200 kilograms of 3.5 percent enriched […]
The Pentagon recently reported to Congress (PDF) that violence in Afghanistan between October 2009 and March of this year has risen sharply, with so much as 87 percent in fact compared to the same period last year. Insurgent attacks increased throughout 2009 to peak in August just before the country’s presidential election. Most activity has […]
Defense Tech reports that German soldiers in Afghanistan are silently protesting against the perceived ambiguity of their mission’s purpose by snapping up patches that read “I fight for Merkel.” The patches, technically illegal, are a big seller among German soldiers at Mazār-e Sharīf. The country’s ISAF forces have been hit hard in recent weeks, losing […]
Robert Kaplan points out that China’s blessed geography is so obvious that it tends to get overlooked.
In another show of Turkey emerging as a Middle East power broker, the country reiterated its offer on Tuesday to act as a diplomatic middleman toward Iran. “The solution for Iran’s nuclear program is through negotiations and the diplomatic process,” stressed Ahmet Davutoğlu, Turkey’s foreign minister, during a press conference in Tehran. Turkey, which has […]
