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26 december 2018
China’s Geoeconomics and the ‘New Cold War’
Chinese geoeconomics is making a great leap forward to adjust to rapid technological developments and a changing international distribution of power. The world is entering a new industrial revolution that further decouples the relationship between capital and labour, which incentivises Beijing to abandon its reliance on low-wage competitiveness and instead take the lead in developing high-tech strategic industries with its digital Silk Road.
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25 september 2018
Islam and Global Commons: The Gap between Principles and Practices
It is estimated that there are approximately 1.6 billion Muslims in the world today, who represent over 20% of the world’s population. No one is exempt from the vagaries of climate change, and Muslims have to accept their share of the responsibility.
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14 july 2018
Trump-Putin meeting in Helsinki might solve Syrian crisis
Russia and the United States have very different approaches and goals in the Middle East, but they could lead to a solution in Syria.
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10 january 2018
Comment of the Year: The Middle East – Syria
It must be stated right from the outset that the outgoing year has failed to bring this long-suffering region either any perceptible change for the better or a consummation of aspirations that provided a powerful impetus to the million-strong protests in the Arab world seven years ago.
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20 december 2017
Does Trump’s Recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital Matter?
President Trump announced that the U.S. was recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and would move the American embassy to that city from Tel Aviv.
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15 december 2017
Russia Has Dissolved America’s Uni-Polar Project in the Middle East
The Russian Armed Forces' Chief of Staff announced that “all terrorist units of ISIS on Syrian soil have been destroyed, and the territory is liberated”. Quite an achievement! — brought about by the Syrian Army, by Iran, by Hizbullah, and of course, by Russia’s military forces and its diplomats (the latter playing an important effective part, too). It represents a significant feat of multi-party co-ordination.
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11 december 2017
Moscow’s leverage in Syria is strong, but limited
Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared “a complete victory” over the Islamic State on both banks of the Euphrates River in Syria.
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25 october 2017
Muqtada al-Sadr: A Way into the Arab World?
Muqtada al-Sadr is a descendent of the religious Sadr dynasty, a prominent family of Shiite intellectuals. He is one of a small number of politicians who possess significant influence in modern Iraq and who are capable of inspiring hundreds of thousands of people to take to the streets.
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10 october 2017
What Should the Gulf Crises Teach Us?
One of the most disturbing trends in international politics today is a rapid deterioration of the security situation in the Gulf area, — a region which remains a critically important part of the global economy, finance and transportation.
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9 october 2017
Russians, Saudis look to spruce up relations
The Saudi king’s visit to Russia this week was an event Moscow has been anticipating for many years. Amid recent years' flurry of visits by Middle Eastern leaders, the Saudi monarch arguably had been the only one missing.
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2 october 2017
Russian-Saudi Rapprochement?
Iran and Economic Strain Will Make It Tough
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26 september 2017
What Awaits Syria?
Syria has suffered great damage after the years-long conflict. Regional and global actors’ joint efforts are required to root out terrorism, rebuild the economy and resolve a humanitarian crisis in the country.
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22 september 2017
Russia sees Saudi Arabia as 'gatekeeper' to Mideast
Russian officials say Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud is coming to Moscow for a visit, but the kingdom has been playing coy, perhaps as a bargaining tactic.
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19 september 2017
Wars in the Name of Islam: What Comes Next?
Is the Middle East turning into the area of total war? What will the Sunni and Shiite rivalry end in? How to defeat terrorism?
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12 september 2017
Russia–US Relations and the Future of Syria
The greatest analytical challenge in trying to understand the Syrian civil wars overcoming the propensity to see the world as it was and not as it is. It is tempting to look at Syria on a map and imagine that one day soon it could be put back together – if only a resolution could be found during diplomatic meetings in Astana or Istanbul.
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17 july 2017
Russian–Saudi Relations Entering New Phase
One indication of the level of relations between the two countries are the ongoing preparations for the Saudi monarch’s upcoming visit to Russia, his first ever. Normally King Salman, 81, only graces the closest allies and most important partners with his presence.
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29 june 2017
Russia Will Not Lose from the Denunciation of the INF Treaty
Recently the American journal Politico, referring to some congressmen, reported on the proposal to the US administration from the Congress about possible withdrawal from the INF treaty, signed by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987.
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14 june 2017
Qatar Сrisis: What’s Next?
Middle East, espicially its Arab part, does not cease to surprise the rest of the world that would hardly be shocked after the turbulent Arab spring and recent political events in the US and Europe.
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9 june 2017
The United States as a Republic of Curved Mirrors: What is Russia to Do?
The morbid situation involving a political and information war that developed in the United States this winter, where the traditional establishment seeks to weaken or completely remove the incumbent president from office, portraying Trump and his retinue as Russian puppets and traitors, continues to worsen.
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6 june 2017
Japanese Yen Meets Russian Gas in the Far East
Currency issue is a political issue as much as it is an economic one, therefore political leadership is needed. Much depends on whether Japan can cooperate with Russia as the U.S. did with Saudi Arabia. Japan would be a stable buyer of natural gas and a stable provider of capital for Russia.
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6 june 2017
“Island Russia” and Russia’s Identity Politics
According to the strategy of “civilizational realism,” Russia and the Euro-Atlantic region would be recognized as separate civilizations, with their own gravitation orbits. Russia’s orbit would be much more modest, but still real. In this sense, the “Russian world” would no longer have a narrow ethnic interpretation.
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6 june 2017
Qatar and Saudi Arabia: The Final Breakup or Will America Help?
On June 5, 2017, six Arab countries - Yemen, Libya, Bahrain, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia - announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Qatar.
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22 may 2017
Iran voted Rouhani again – now what? The $350-billion question for Trump
For a country labelled a theocracy, Iran certainly knows how to throw a presidential election. One more cynical than I may even go so far as to posit that Iran has mastered the art of democracy, right down to the posters and caps.
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25 september 2016
Oil Back in Vogue
The global energy market continues to be driven by the political economy of oil production and trade. Energy markets have come full circle returning to their fundamentals: oil is there to stay and play an important role in the era of slow melting of the oil surplus.
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21 august 2016
Global Energy and the Political Dynamics in the Middle East
This article reviews key dynamics in the Middle Eastern oil and gas to explain how they shape the global energy picture. The author makes sense of the Saudi-Iran relations and the role OPEC is set to play in the emerging energy landscape. Finally, political developments in the broader region, including Turkey, are discussed.
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17 june 2016
Marriage of Convenience
Russia and Iran have found themselves to be partners of convenience in Syria. Their interaction is limited due to different motives behind their interference in the conflict and the possibility to harm their relations with third states.
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17 june 2016
Caught in the Web of Archaic Policies
The Syrian conflict has provided an example of the profound virtualization of politics (and even its power component) and of creating stable pre-engineered actors exclusively for the communication space. The “moderate opposition” is the most noteworthy one.
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17 june 2016
What Makes A Great Power War Possible
Numerous international competitors see the use of force as a solution to their challenges. In relations between Russia and NATO, China and Japan, Iran and Saudi Arabia, power plays unfold with unpredictable repercussions.
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29 april 2016
The Iranian Deal: Opportunities and Obstacles for Russian-US Cooperation
On July 14, 2015, the United States, Russia, China, France, UK, Germany, the European Union and Iran concluded the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the “Iran deal,” with the goal of ending the standoff over the Iranian nuclear program.
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19 april 2016
The Middle East: the main trends
The Valdai Discussion Club hosted the 5th meeting of the Valdai Middle East dialogue, «The Middle East: From Violence to Security.» The following is a summary of the discussions and conclusions reached by its participants.
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China’s Geoeconomics and the ‘New Cold War’
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Glenn Diesen -
Will US pullout from Syria increase risk of conflict with Russia?
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Fyodor Lukyanov -
Entering 2019: Challenges and Opportunities
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Igor Ivanov -
The Tragedy of Ukraine
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Nicolai Petro -
U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy
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Robert Manning
A new world order: A view from Russia
Since around 2017–2018, the world has been living through a period of progressive erosion, or collapse, of international orders inherited from the past. With the election of Donald Trump and the rapid increase of US containment of Russia and China—which is both a consequence of this gradual erosion and also represents deep internal and international contradictions—this process entered its apogee.
Will US pullout from Syria increase risk of conflict with Russia?
The announcement of the US pullout from Syria was received with caution in Moscow. Besides the security and political challenges it may bring about, the Trump decision could mean the end of a practical, relatively constructive US-Russian approach to conflict at flashpoints.
Four Dreadful Scenarios for Tomorrow’s Syria and What We Can Do To Avoid Them
Despite eight years of horrific conflict, and over 500,000 thousand deaths, a stable peace in Syria remains elusive.
Russia, Turkey, Iran discuss Syria amid simmering disagreements
The presidents of Russia, Turkey and Iran convened for their fourth summit on Syria in Russia’s southern resort city of Sochi on Feb. 14. Earlier leaders of the “guarantor countries” of the Astana process met in November 2017 in Sochi, in April 2018 in Ankara and in September 2018 in Tehran.
Heartland Reunion: Geopolitical Chimera or Historical Chance?
Anyone who has at least some idea about the theory of international relations should remember the oft-quoted formula put forward by the father of British geopolitics, Halford Mackinder: “Who rules the Heartland commands the World-Island; who rules the World-Island commands the world.”
Indian Approaches to Multilateral Cooperation and Institutions in Eurasia
Relations between the US and Russia are at their worst since the end of the Cold War, China and the US have tense relations, India and China are trying to stabilize relations after a period of acrimony. The major powers appear today to be like the unhappy families in Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina: ‘Each unhappy family (major power in this case) is unhappy in its own way.’
From Mistrust to Solidarity or More Mistrust? Russia’s Migration Experience in the International Context
Freedom of movement and freedom to choose a place of residence can be ranked among the category of freedoms which, as part of the Global Commons, have been restricted to varying degrees at the level of communities, states, and international associations.