But an unexpected war is imminent, according to best-selling new biblical analysis
According to Salus, the next war in the Middle East will involve Israel’s closest Arab neighbors – not faraway Iran or Russia, the re-emerging military power to the north. He says a sometimes overlooked or misinterpreted passage in Psalm 83 is the key to [...]

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A 2,000-mile pipeline envisioned as a way to lessen Western Europe’s dependence on Russian natural gas is being threatened by escalating costs, missed deadlines and uncertain supply.
The project, known as Nabucco, is behind schedule, with a start date expected to be pushed back from next year to 2010. Recent reports indicate that the cost of [...]

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The consequences of a nuclear-armed Iran are obvious. Its leaders are theologically motivated and believe Israel should be wiped off the map. It is the chief global sponsor of terrorism through groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas. Middle East experts believe a nuclear-armed Iran would soon be followed by Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, and [...]

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As full of fun facts as the Pew Report is, however, it has a fairly limited scope. Lots of numbers and percentages are bandied about but with very little historical context or explanation. Why, for example, do Russians prefer powerful leaders over straight-up democracies? Why do Tanzanians like President Bush so much? Oh, and why [...]

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In itself, Iran’s recent application for membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is probably little more than diplomatic posturing. But coupled with the end of Lebanon’s political stalemate, Turkey’s mediation between Israel and Syria, and Egypt’s attempts to broker a truce in Gaza, it can be seen as part of a new dynamic that [...]

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Saudi Arabia most likely would develop nuclear weapons if Iran acquires them, according to a report to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
High-level American diplomats in Riyadh with excellent access to Saudi decision-makers said an Iranian nuclear weapon frightens the Saudis “to their core” and would compel the Saudis to seek nuclear weapons, the report said. [...]

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Turkish-American relations face two significant challenges. One has to do with the Turkish inclination to enter northern Iraq in order to deal with Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters operating there. The other is connected with an upcoming US House of Representatives vote on a resolution to recognize as genocide the mass killings of Armenians by [...]

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As Turkey pushes ahead with its nuclear energy ambitions in the face of predicted energy shortfalls and a perceived threat from Iran, critics express concerns about internal safety, security and a regional arms race.
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Tensions between the US and Turkey are growing as Ankara considers attacking PKK bases in northern Iraq and a congressional committee in Washington pushes forward a resolution calling the World war I massacre of Armenians “genocide.” German commentators are concerned at the deteriorating relations between the NATO allies. more…

Pursuing the PKK: Turkey Prepares for Incursions [...]

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ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s president warned the U.S. government Tuesday that their longtime ties will be harmed if Congress passes a resolution putting the genocide label on the mass killings of ethnic Armenians in Ottoman Turk lands during World war I.
President Abdullah Gul said in a letter there would be “serious troubles” if Congress [...]

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A closer look at Turkish-Iranian rivalry in Central Asia and the Caucasus and its impact on Russia
While the global news media has given extensive coverage to the geopolitics of energy resources in the former Soviet Empire, little attention has been paid to the competition between Turkey and Iran in Central Asia and the Caucasus, and [...]

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Rumors are floating in Washington and elsewhere that Turkey is preparing to move against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an anti-Turkish group seeking an independent Kurdistan in Turkey. One report, by Robert Novak in the Washington Post, says the United States is planning to collaborate with Turkey in suppressing the PKK in northern Iraq, an [...]

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Reflecting a constantly worsening relationship between NATO allies Turkey and the united States in recent years, a new poll revealed Thursday that more than three-fourths of Turks view the U.S. as a potential military threat to their country.
The U.S.-based Pew Research Center’s latest global tendencies report was based on polls conducted in 47 nations throughout [...]

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The results of last week’s elections in Turkey should be deeply troubling to America and all those in the secular West who were counting on a successful resistance of the expansion of Islamic extremism there. Cox & Forkum’s new cartoon illustrates this very serious rising new threat.
July 24, 2007 — THE bad news is that [...]

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In today’s world, decisions on energy are made not only on economic terms but, unfortunately, geopolitics also plays a major role. In this sense, Turkey’s agreement with Iran to transport some 30 billion cubic metres of Iranian and Turkmen natural gas westward to Europe, while it makes good business sense for Turkey, Iran and the [...]

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The importance of this weekend’s election goes well beyond Turkey itself.
ON JULY 22nd Turkey, still an adolescent democracy, goes to the polls. The event is being followed carefully far from its own borders. For one thing, the country is of huge strategic importance. It borders the European Union to the west and the Caucasus, Iran, [...]

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What country in the world is most anti-American? According to the Pew Global Attitudes Project’s 47-nation survey released Wednesday it would not be one of the usual suspects - the Palestinian Authority, Pakistan, or Venezuela - but rather America’s 50-year-NATO ally, Turkey.
Consider the facts: Turkey ranked dead last in all the most important categories on [...]

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The Turkish public dislikes the United States more than any other nation in the world, while leading global actors such as the European Union, Russia, Iran, China and Israel are also falling from favor with a majority of Turks, according to a global survey released on Wednesday.
The 47-country survey found that only 9 percent of [...]

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With Vladimir Putin’s visit to Turkey tomorrow, a new stage of bipartisan – and eventually bilateral – cooperation will be launched. Very little has been published so far on the advanced rapprochement between the age-old enemies on Black Sea’s northern and southern shores.
The Russian presidential monarch’s visit is due to the Black Sea Economic Cooperation [...]

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Hamas seizing Gaza is only the beginning of a nightmare. One must look at the whole Middle Eastern region, to distinguish the bomb from the fuse. What Hamas will do, by consolidating its power in Gaza, and becoming a true “free port” with terrorist infrastructure for the world’s Islamist networks, is to perfect that fuse. [...]

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The Gulf today is going through a gradual power shift in which the US has lost considerable ground while domestic forces, Iran and other major non-regional powers such as China, India, Russia and Turkey are on the rise.
The region was previously defined by an aggressive but frustrated Iraq, a radical but divided and relatively weak [...]

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