Geopolitics

Iran is entering the global economy, and some investment-bank analysts are starting to get pretty excited. Most outsiders see Iran as an anti-Semitic Islamic state run by extremists who tolerate terrorism (as long as it’s not in Iran). But Iran is also the last large, modern, educated economy …

Where is leadership in the European Union? Who dares to don its trappings, now that German Chancellor Angela Merkel no longer seems to command the authority she did up until the end of the summer? After the attacks in Paris, and with refugees still knocking on the door …

Russian Defense Ministry has presented photos of oil delivery convoys at Syria-Turkey border, the head of the Russian General Staff’s operative command said. The general staff has irrefutable evidence on Turkey’s involvement in illegal oil trade. Moscow has called on Turkey to open access to the places where, according to the retrieved Russian intel, …

Guess who just popped up in the Kremlin? Bashar al-Assad, Syrian dictator and destroyer, now Vladimir Putin’s newest pet. After four years holed up in Damascus, Assad was summoned to Russia to bend a knee to Putin, show the world that today Middle East questions get settled not …

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s high-profile meeting with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on November 23 has triggered speculationthat the two sides are weighing some serious policy choices about Syria. The key question, as always, is the fate of Syrian President Bashar al Assad. There is no …

Trita Parsi A senior German official told me in 2010, quite proudly, that under the leadership of Angela Merkel, Germany’s Iran policy had become a function of its relations with Israel. Whether Germany would sanction Iran or engage in diplomacy very much depended on Israel’s reaction. In its …

Entering the Syrian conflict, Moscow has faced the challenge posed both by Daesh and its covert backers, Canadian Professor Michael Jabara Carley notes; he questions whether French President Hollande has the guts to escape Washington’s “spider web” and join Russia’s coalition in Syria. Professor Michael Jabara Carley of the …

A difficult question is arising for German Chancellor Angela Merkel before her meeting with Turkish leader Recer Tayyip Erdogan – should Europe deal with a country which buys oil from terrorists? Politicians with principles should have cancelled the meeting, German media reported.  EU leaders are expected to meet with the …

The OPEC oil cartel may face pressure to lower production quotas, as its efforts to defend the market against shale producers is finally paying off. OPEC looks unlikely to reduce production quotas as its strategy of lowering oil prices to maintain market share begins paying off. Saudi Arabia is facing pressure from other …