CYPRUS: TIME TO THINK AGAIN (by Gustave Feissel). With the appointment of a new Special Advisor of the Secretary-General on Cyprus and the recent fiftieth anniversary of the presence of the United Nations in Cyprus it would be timely to consider how best to move the negotiating process forward in a manner most likely to succeed. Over the past fifty years, spanning six Secretaries-General … MORE

THE MIDDLE EAST CRACK-UP (by Shlomo Avineri). JERUSALEM – The horror stories emerging from northern Iraq, as well as the continuing slaughter in Syria’s civil war, point to a tectonic shift in the Middle East. Almost 100 years after World War I, the regional state system established after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire is unraveling. The contemporary map of the Middle East was drawn … MORE

ARE BETTER DAYS AHEAD? (by Monroe Newman). In multiple places around the world the established order is threatened.  Sometimes it survives, sometimes it peacefully concedes, sometimes wrenching, horrific bloodshed occurs.  Change and its possibility appear to be the order of the day. In some ways, this is not new.  A view backwards informs that those seemingly immutable national .… MORE

JIHAD V REASON. THE FAILURE OF WESTERN INTELLIGENCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST (by Petros Savvides). A critical question today pertains to the ability of the West to predict, or at least assess, possible threats that jeopardize its global strategic interests and its homeland security; especially, whether the Intelligence Communities in the United States and Europe are capable of … MORE

UKRAINE-CYPRUS: HYPOCRISY OF DOUBLE STANDARDS (by Savvas Iacovides). Interests and power are the core of politics. The cases of the Ukrainian and the Cypriot crises are indicative of this timeless axiom. Ukraine is the latest manifestation of an ongoing Cold War, which belies the end of history and rekindles dangerous confrontation of the West (USA and EU) with Russia. MORE

THE ISIL THREAT AND THE NEW MIDDLE EASTERN CONSENSUS (by Gabriel I. Haritos). The ISIL has succeeded to change the Western agenda in the Middle East within months, through their key military moves in Iraq and the north-eastern Syrian territories and by means of a systematically conducted psychological warfare through internet and social media.  Following the video footages of the … MORE

 
 
THE MIDDLE EAST AND LESSONS NOT LEARNED (by Arda Jebejian). Raqqa, Tel Abyad, Deir Zor, Ras Al-Ayn, Yaacoubiye, Ghenaymiye – not so known as Aleppo or Kessab – are Syrian villages that after the Armenian Genocide in 1915 welcomed survivors and became “home away from home” for thousands of starving, fatigued, and mourning Armenians.  That is until lately when once again they were … MORE
 
 

THE ‘ARAB REVOLT’ AND TRIBAL SECTARIAN DIVISIONS (by Farid Mirbagheri). The revolt in the Arab world has had diverse outcomes. In Tunisia, where it all started, it has led to a relatively peaceful transition to democracy and to a lesser degree Egypt’s experience has also been less bloody than others. However, chaos, carnage, civil war and much human suffering have ensued in Libya, … MORE