Geopolitics

Trend: The regulatory authorities in TAP’s host countries – Greece, Italy and Albania – have released a joint opinion, prolonging the validity period of TAP’s exemption from certain provisions of the EU Gas Directive. TAP’s exemption has been updated in line with the planned commencement date of Shah Deniz …

Azer News: Though the world powers and Iran have reached a framework accord on Tehran’s decade-old nuclear dispute, experts and analysts are skeptical on the success of the nuclear negotiations. They don’t believe that the P5+1 and Iran could achieve a final nuclear deal by the July 1 …

Representatives of the far-right Ukrainian nationalist political movement Right Sector are due to picket the administrative building of President Poroshenko in central Kiev later on Wednesday. The far-right Ukrainian nationalist political movement Right Sector will be picketing near the building of President Petro Poroshenko’s administration in central Kiev later in the day, …

By Christopher Kozak Institute For The Study Of War The following is an excerpt of the upcoming report from the Institute for the Study of War titled “An Army in All Corners — Assad’s Campaign Strategy in Syria.” Written by ISW Syria Analyst Christopher Kozak, this study examines Syrian …

WILLIAM MACLEAN REUTERS Saudi Arabia’s new foreign minister, a U.S.-educated connoisseur of Washington’s diplomatic scene and longtime adviser to the kingdom’s rulers, is an articulate spokesman for his country’s new assertive approach to the Middle East’s growing conflicts. A well-known figure in Washington government circles and on U.S. …

Christine Petre The Middle East Monitor Forensic psychologist John Horgan argues that we are “genuinely unprepared” for the Islamic State. The author of “The Psychology of Terrorism”, who has just returned to the US from Pakistan where he conducted research on children and radicalisation, believes that ISIS is …

The Middle East Monitor: The Western media has worked hard in the past two weeks to shed light on the relationship between former Iraqi army officers and ISIS. Its analysis suggests that ISIS is an armed wing of the Iraqi Baath Party’s deep state. I believe that the …

By Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya Russia Today The Moscow Conference on International Security in April was used as a venue to give notice to the US and NATO that other world powers will not let them do as they please. Russia’s Defense Minister Shoigu and Iran’s Defense Minister Dehghan …

By ANGUS MCDOWALL Saudi Arabia’s Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, a close friend of the United States and a scourge of Islamist militants, will be the country’s first king from the third generation of its ruling dynasty. King Salman on Wednesday appointed the U.S. favorite and veteran security …