... pressed to choose, Russia should side more with Egypt and the UAE, especially since the latter can open doors for Russia in other regions if their partnership reaches the strategic level through cooperation here and elsewhere.
Levant: Resolving the War in Syria
Russia must somehow resolve the Syrian dilemma, ideally by pairing an Iranian withdrawal with the nuclear deal, sanctions relief for Syria, and some form of decentralization that is acceptable to Damascus. Moscow must also ensure that Turkish influence ...
... dependence on Eastern Eurasia (China).
It is yet to be articulated and—perhaps—is not consciously understood even by most Russian policymakers as it began in a somewhat
ad hoc
fashion after the country’s decisive anti-terrorist intervention in Syria in 2015. What is therefore needed is a clear understanding of what is happening in this broad swath of geostrategic space with a special attention paid to the challenges, opportunities and narrative engagement for optimizing Russia’s grand strategy ...
... According to the current constitution, this term will be the last for the president. But in the next seven years of Bashar al-Assad’s rule, the constitution may change, and it is far from certain that this will happen as a result of the work of the Syrian Constitutional Committee, with UN mediation. The victory of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was accompanied by congratulations from allies and a lack of recognition of the election results by Western countries. In any event, what is the attitude ...
If the cry “Never Again” is to retain any meaning, the Caesar Sanctions against Syria must be immediately lifted
As the Biden administration is recklessly expanding the sanctions regime—something that has become a routine response from Anglo-American officials to any government they accuse of violating the “rules-based order”—Helga ...
A one-year extension to the current aid arrangements would be no one’s first choice—but would ensure civilians in Idlib continue to receive help
The next international showdown on Syria is quickly coming into view. After ten years of conflict, Bashar al-Assad may have won the war, but much is left to be done to win the peace. This is nowhere more so than in the province of Idlib, which is home to nearly 3 million people who now ...
... The mechanisms ... to manage the risks of escalation that existed in the past no longer seem to be present” (pp. 188-189) [
3
]. Cohen cautions that the new Cold War is “more fraught with the possibility of a hot war”—on three fronts: Ukraine, Syria, and the Baltics (p. 67)—and that the only way to avert a hot war or “another prolonged Cold War” is through a new U.S.-Russia “détente,” i.e. the expansion of cooperation and radical reduction in the possibility of violent and potentially ...
... was attended by leading Russian and European experts
On March 15, 2021, the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) and the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) held an off-limits online workshop on the situation in the Middle East and Syria. The event was attended by leading Russian and European experts.
Opening remarks were made by Andrey Kortunov, RIAC Director General, and Julien Barnes-Dacey, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at the European Council on Foreign ...
What kind of Syria would we like to see and might we see by March 2031?
On 6 March 2011, the local security services in the small town of Daraa, southern Syria, detained fifteen teenagers painting anti-government graffiti on fences and buildings. During the subsequent ...
Report 65/2021
Report 65/2021
The report analyses the application of foreign sanctions against Russian citizens, companies and economy sectors. It also considers global trends in the use of sanctions and restrictive measures against Russia within individual areas (the “Ukrainian package,” sanctions against pipeline projects, “cyber sanctions,” etc.). The report is based on Sanctions Event Database compiled by the Russian International Affairs Council. It contains data for 2020 into early 2021....
Syria will most likely remain part of US regional policies and subordinate to US dealings with Iran, Turkey and Russia
With the new US administration in the White House, there are rather lofty expectations about a change in the American Middle East ...
