Posted by Matt in August 18th, 2008 |
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Middle East, Russia, Aggressive Policy, Caucasus, Georgia Russia, Iran, Lebanon, Middle East, Nuclear Program, Repercussions, Russian Move, Striking Similarity, Syria, United States, Weapons Systems
The Georgian crisis will have specific repercussions on the Middle East. There is less of a chance that the United States and Russia will be cooperating to stop Iran’s nuclear program. There is a greater chance that Russia will wage a more ambitious and aggressive policy, including selling advanced weapons systems to Iran and Syria. [...]
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Posted by Matt in July 26th, 2008 |
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Middle East, War, Bombings In Iraq, iraq, Iraq War, Iraqi Government, Peace, Terrorist Bombings, Transition, United States, Winning The War
The United States is now winning the war that two years ago seemed lost. Limited, sometimes sharp fighting and periodic terrorist bombings in Iraq are likely to continue, possibly for years. But the Iraqi government and the U.S. now are able to shift focus from mainly combat to mainly building the fragile beginnings of peace [...]
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Posted by Matt in July 21st, 2008 |
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China, Energy, Middle East, Oil, China Wars, Chinese Strategy, Control, Energy Demands, Energy Resources, Governments, Great Leap, Imperialist, iranian, Lenin, Middle East Policy, Natural Resource, Oil Imports, Oil Producing Nations, Peter Navarro, Physical Control, Relationships, rivalry, Verge, West China, Zero Sum Game
As China’s energy demands grow at a rate much faster than any other country in the world, so too have its relationships with the oil-producing nations in the Middle East. With half its oil imports from the region, China’s Middle East policy is on the verge of a “great leap forward.” Chinese strategy for securing [...]
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Posted by Matt in July 18th, 2008 |
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Middle East, Russia, Ali, Bridge, Countries, Desire, Dollar, Endeavors, Geopolitical Realities, Hassan, Middle East, Military Cooperation, Mujahideen, Realignment, Russia, Russian Military, Saudi Ambassador, Saudi-Arabia, Soviet Occupation Of Afghanistan, Technical Cooperation, United States
While no text of the agreement was published, the news apparently represents a major potential realignment of the Middle East’s geopolitical realities, made all the more extraordinary by the fact that, beginning 29 years ago and continuing through the entire Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia matched, dollar for dollar, the United States’ covert assistance [...]
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Posted by Matt in July 14th, 2008 |
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Iran, Israel, Middle East, Air Forces, Army, Clash, hezbollah, Hizballah, Iran, Israel, jerusalem, July 14, Lebanon, Military Sources, Military Tension, Northern Borders, Presence, Sannine Peak, Sources Report, Spokesmen, Syria
DEBKAfile’s military sources report that Israel has placed its military and air forces on its northern borders on high alert after Iran and Syria ignored Jerusalem’s warning, relayed to Washington, that the continued presence of Iranian, Syrian and Hizballah officers on the strategic Lebanese Sannine peak may spark a military clash.
Monday, July 14, two days [...]
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Posted by Matt in July 12th, 2008 |
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Iran, Middle East, Syria, Behest, Early Warning, Eastern Mediterranean, Flights, Foot Mt, Guided Missile, hezbollah, Hizballah, Iran, Israel, Israel Air Force, Lebanon, Sannine, Sixth Fleet, summit, Syria, Warning Station
In the past few weeks, Hizballah at the behest of Iran and Syria has commandeered the 7,800-foot Mt. Sannine, a strategic asset capable of determining the outcome of the next war, as DEBKA-Net-Weekly 356 revealed.
Radar-guided missile positions and an early warning station have since been deployed on its summit, which are capable of monitoring and [...]
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Posted by Matt in July 11th, 2008 |
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Iran, Middle East, Nuclear, Arab States, Arabs, Desalination Plants, Eastern Saudi Arabia, Fallout, Fear, Gulf States, Iran, Nuclear Conflict, refineries, Retaliation, tehran, War In The Gulf, Worry
Nervous Arab states fear a war in the Gulf but a nuclear-armed Iran is an even greater concern.
Iranian retaliation against oilfields, refineries and desalination plants in the Gulf, especially in eastern Saudi Arabia, is an obvious worry. Tehran has gone on the record as threatening to close the Straits of Hormuz, the choke point for [...]
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Posted by Matt in July 11th, 2008 |
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Published in
Conflict, Israel, Middle East, Combat Abilities, Gaza Strip, Global Research, Hamas, Hizbullah, International Affairs Center, invasion, Israeli Incursion, Israelis, Jonathan, Middle East Newsline, Researcher, Russian Weapons, Spyer
A leading Israeli analyst said Hamas has been preparing its forces for an expected Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip, Middle East Newsline reported. Jonathan Spyer, a senior researcher at the Global Research in International Affairs Center, said Hamas was adopting Hizbullah’s strategy of asymmetrical warfare meant to significantly improve its combat abilities.
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Posted by Matt in July 2nd, 2008 |
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China, Middle East, China, Chinese Dragon, Chinese Vice, Cooperation, Dragon, Gulf Countries, Hu Jintao, Mideast Politics, Relationship, Saudi-Arabia, Saudis, Signs, Vice President, Washington Times, Xi Jinping
China and Saudi Arabia have signed a declaration to strengthen strategic cooperation during a visit to Saudi Arabia by Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping and likely successor to President Hu Jintao.
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Chinese dragon in Mideast politics
Washington Times, DC - 4 hours ago
The relationship between China and Saudi Arabia, as well as with other Gulf countries, are based [...]
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Posted by Matt in June 24th, 2008 |
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Middle East, Nuclear, Bandwagon, Chief Executive, Director General, International Institute For Strategic Studies, Iran, John Chipman, Middle East, Middle Eastern Countries, Nuclear Programs, Nuclear Proliferation, Renaissance, Urge, Volatile Regions
A comprehensive and well detailed report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, released last week, sheds a pile of information on the state of nuclear proliferation in one of the world’s most volatile regions — the Middle East.
Indeed, as John Chipman, director general and chief executive of IISS, points out in a publication entitled [...]
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Posted by Matt in June 23rd, 2008 |
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Middle East, Anger, Blockade, Blockades, Cancer, Chemotherapy, Doul, Electricity, Gaza, Headlines, Israel, John Ging, Look At Life, Misery, Shouts, Water Fuel, Worries
Life Behind the Blockade
Since Israel began its blockade, Gaza has rarely been out of the news. We take a look at life behind the blockade and the headlines and we see a people left suffering and angry.
‘Enough!’ shouts a gas-buyer in the market, ‘We are a people who have had enough!’ The mood in [...]
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Posted by Matt in June 23rd, 2008 |
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Middle East, Beirut, Christian Vote, Civil War, Deal Or No Deal, Factions, Government Forces, hezbollah, Hostility, Lebanese President, Lebanese Society, Lebanon, Militias, Political Battleground, Political Tensions, Powerhouse, Preliminaries, Skirmishes, Sunni Shia, Sunnis And Shias, Traditional Enemy
An appearance of peace has returned to Lebanon; but as Hezbollah grows in power, political tensions are becoming palpable. Has the country finally entered a long-term settlement, or are we witnessing the preliminaries to a new conflict?
Thanks to massive financial and military backing from Iran and Syria, Hezbollah has emerged as a powerhouse over [...]
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Posted by Matt in June 22nd, 2008 |
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China, Middle East, Oil, China, Creation, Dollar Investment, Dubai, Energy Strategy, Investment Fund, Middle East Oil, Oil And Gas, Oil Exports, Oil Gas, Partnership, Political Leverage
Dubai recently announced its partnership with China in the creation of a billion dollar investment fund. Saudi commitment to double oil exports to China by 2010. These two announcements exemplify China’s Middle East energy strategy: to entrench itself economically in the region, even at a loss, so as to obtain the political leverage required to [...]
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Posted by Matt in June 19th, 2008 |
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Middle East, Acre Island, Ambitious Project, Boom, Camel Caravan, Centuries, Construction Boom, Desert, Dubai, Golden Sand Beaches, Imagination, Marinas, Middle Eastern Style, Midst, Mud, Museums, Rapid Modernization, Retail Showrooms, Riviera, Skyscrapers, Spending Spree, Yacht
A sleepy stretch of sand visited mainly by the odd camel caravan over the centuries, Qatar is in the midst of a massive spending spree, financing museums, skyscrapers and rapid modernization - like much of the Gulf region. But unlike Dubai, which wants to dominate in tourism, Qatar has more modest targets for its seemingly [...]
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Posted by Matt in June 19th, 2008 |
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Middle East, Alarm Bell, Bicycles, Buses, Construction Boom, Construction Site, Economy, King Abdullah Economic City, Lunch, November Afternoon, Oil Exports, Red Sea, Saudi-Arabia
[A detail from a rendering of the King Abdullah Economic City, on the Red Sea. It is one of six new cities planned by Saudi Arabia as it works to diversify its economy beyond oil exports.]
RABIGH, Saudi Arabia — THE alarm bell sounded the end of the lunch break here one November afternoon, and suddenly [...]
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Posted by Matt in June 13th, 2008 |
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Middle East, Water, 10 Years, Arabia Saudi, Cultivations, Department Agriculture, Department Of Agriculture, Desert, Dot, Earth Policy Institute, Food Exporter, Food Production, Food Shortages, Grain, Grain Production, Irrigated Fields, Lester Brown, Peak Water, Recent News, Reuters, Saudi Government, Saudi-Arabia, Self Sufficiency, Subsidies, U S Department
Grain production in Saudi Arabia is now down 42 percent from the peak of 4.9 million tons reached in 1994 and is now on track to decline rapidly in the coming years. Thanks to Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute for compiling these figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture:
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Peak water in Saudi [...]
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Posted by Matt in June 10th, 2008 |
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Middle East, Nuclear, Conservative Commentator, Ed Markey, George Bush, Massachusetts Democrat, Michelle Malkin, Nuclear Program, Radical Proposal, Saudi-Arabia, Tax Dollars, Twenty Four Hours, White House
Okay, I want to hear the White House response to this, but it looks like twice in twenty-four hours I’ll be agreeing with a Democratic congresscritter. This time it’s Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, no less, who is advancing the radical proposal that maybe George Bush shouldn’t be committing your tax dollars to developing [...]
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Posted by Matt in June 10th, 2008 |
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Iran, Middle East, Academic Departments, Arab, Buzzword, Fallacy, Iran, Muslim Tradition, National Suicide, Regimes, tanks
A new buzzword is arising from the network of Israeli think tanks and security-oriented academic departments bent on instigating a U.S. attack on Iran: “national suicide” The term describes a supposed Arab Muslim tradition of politically motivated suicide at the national, not just individual, level. Arab Muslim regimes have purportedly launched ruinous wars they could [...]
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Posted by Matt in June 5th, 2008 |
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Published in
Middle East, War, algeria, Civil War, Company Commander, Concise Description, David Galula, Fatah, Fln, French Experience, French Marines, Guidance, Hamas, hezbollah, Hizbullah, Indochina, Insurgency In Iraq, Lebanon, Lieutenant Colonel, Power Play, Revolutionary Movements, Revolutionary Theory, Theory And Practice
Understanding why Hizbullah refused to take over Lebanon is key not only for understanding Hizbullah but also for understanding Hamas, Fatah and the insurgency in Iraq.
A compelling answer to this question is found in David Galula’s classic work, Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice. Galula, who died in 1967, was a lieutenant colonel in the French [...]
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Posted by Matt in June 4th, 2008 |
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Published in
Middle East, Terrorism, Afterthought, Alice In Wonderland, Alice Wonderland, Beirut, Corporate Security, counterterrorism, Deputy Chief, Diplomatic Security Service, File Folder, File Folders, Fred Burton, Gleason, Hand Lettering, Kamikaze, Lebanon, Magic Marker, Miss Manners, Rabbit Hole, State Evidence, Stratfor, Subheadings, Suicide Bomber, Witness Statements
Editor’s Note: This week’s Terrorism Weekly is the second chapter of Fred Burton’s new book, GHOST: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent. Burton is vice president for counterterrorism and corporate security at Stratfor. He is the former deputy chief of the counterterrorism division of the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service.
Chapter Two: Down the Rabbit Hole
“CT03.” [...]
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Posted by Matt in June 3rd, 2008 |
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Is Islam a religion of peace? Daniel Pipes, a leading Islamic scholar, says yes and no. If Islam prevails, becoming the world’s pervasive religion, the answer is yes; and since it will require war for Islam to prevail, for the time being the answer is no. But to begin to understand Islam, Pipes says it [...]
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