Geopolitics

By Middle East Eye Members of the Islamic State (IS) have their sights set on gaining full control of an area known as Libya’s oil crescent, according to residents in the Libyan town which has become IS’s latest conquest. At a meeting with leaders from Harawa, IS militants …

By Eric Draister There are growing indications that the war in Syria has now entered a new and dangerous phase that threatens to engulf the entire Middle East in a broad regional war. The news that Iran has sent significant numbers of Iranian, Iraqi, and Afghan troops to take active …

Nicolas Bonnal of Boulevard Voltaire believes Russia is lucky that it wasn’t invited to the G7 summit this year, comparing the group to the company of hypocritical “idiots.”  As the West is reaching new heights of absurdity, Russia should be happy that it didn’t end up in the company of …

This weekend’s elections in Turkey, which resulted in no party securing enough votes to form a government, have been touted as a significant moment in Turkish democracy. The vote saw the rise of minor and ethnic minority-based groups triggering demonstrations across the country. “Our nation’s opinion is above everything else,” Recap Tayyip Erdogan has said in his …

By Shehab Ali With June 5th marking the first anniversary of the Islamic State’s invasion into Iraq, there’s no time like now to assess unfolding events and developments that have taken place over the last 365 days. That iconic image of all that desert sand getting kicked up by …

The shaky truce in Ukraine has given NATO ample opportunities to spread the New Cold War beyond Eastern Europe and into new theaters, one of which has been the greater Black Sea region. The recent destabilizations in Macedonia and Moldova that endanger Russian interests there can be directly …

By Paul Pillar The New York Times hailed Israel’s ingenuity in addressing its water needs, but played down how Israel exploits its military domination to divert water away from Palestinians and to Israelis, as ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar explains. Israel is the object of widespread admiration for its …

By Maria Dubovikova The confrontation between Russia and the West that started over the Ukrainian crisis, having led to mutual sanctions and blacklists, seems to be calming down. Both sides have shown readiness for dialogue and we seemed on the edge of a thaw in relations. However, it …

U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in southern Germany early Sunday for a G7 summit that is set to be overshadowed by tensions over Greece’s debt crisis and flaring violence in Ukraine. Before the start of the summit in the Bavarian Alps Obama said that leaders would discuss how …