What does it mean for Turkish foreign policy, that the Obama Administration’s conscious policy of diminishing American power and prestige in Western Asia continues to yield benefits to Russia and Iran? The Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer, looking mainly at … Continue reading →
Russian economic sanctions on Turkey, according to a report just published by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, will affect the rate of Turkish economic growth but only to a limited degree. The eduction in Turkey’s GDP growth in … Continue reading →
The majority victory of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) at the recent parliamentary elections in Turkey will lead to still deeper Azerbaijan energy cooperation. At the same time, it underlines the Turkish hesitations about deeper cooperation with either Russia … Continue reading →
With the accord having been reached over Iran’s nuclear development program, there is now more active interest in the possibility of Azerbaijan Iran gas cooperation. Both Iranian and Azerbaijani reports suggest that the two countries are discussing this. I have … Continue reading →
Caspian Sea gas is not so plentiful in Turkmenistan, where the main deposits are in the country’s southeast. Yet with the completion of the East-West Pipeline (EWP), that gas is starting to become politically available for export westward through the … Continue reading →
The South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) takes natural gas from Azerbaijan into Turkey for Turkish consumption. It will soon be connected to the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP, from its Turkish initials), which will cross Asia Minor to Europe. TANAP, now under … Continue reading →
Russia continues to play hardball with natural gas for the European Union, trying to get Brussels to sacrifice Ukraine in return for the promise of better relations with Moscow. This geo-economic and power-political jousting is conditioned by the fact that EU sanctions against Russia will begin to expire in three phases between March and July unless there is an EU consensus to keep them in place.
Continue reading →U.S. President Barack Obama’s appearance on The Colbert Report this week confirmed that he has no qualms about leaving Canada in the lurch in current global energy glut. In the interview, Colbert observed that the Republican-controlled Congress would approve the … Continue reading →
Greenwald condescends to terrorists and dehumanizes them by denying them their human agency. He seems under the sway of the Enlightenment myth of the “noble savage” corrupted by Western civilization. This approach denies terrorists the individual responsibility that they in fact claim.
Continue reading →It is rare that a great power in world politics, after decades of hostility with another country, turns around and suddenly seeks to embrace that country as a friend, if not an ally, yet this is what the recent American … Continue reading →