Greater Middle East
China enters Syrian war?
China is reported to be sending warships to Syria to augment the Russian build-up there—as word emerges of a Uighur jihadist group allied with the Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front.
Tag: Russia
Greater Middle East
Syrian rebels pledge to defeat Russian ‘occupation’
Amid signs of an escalating Russian intervention in Syria, the opposition government-in-exile issued a statement pledging to "defeat any foreign occupation."
Greater Middle East
ISIS seizes last oil-field from Assad regime
ISIS fighters seized the last oil-field still under the control of the Assad regime after several days of fighting. The Jazal field has a production capacity of 2,500 barrels per day.
Iraq
Russia launches Syria intervention
Russian fighter pilots are arriving in Syria, to begin sorties against ISIS and rebel forces—amid reports that Moscow's elite units are already fighting on the ground for the regime.
The Caucasus
New war brewing between Russia and Georgia?
The government of Georgia accuses Russian military forces of encroaching on its territory in the contested South Ossetia enclave, seizing a section of BP’s Baku-Supsa pipeline. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library)
Planet Watch
Obama pursues nuclear ‘modernization’ —not disarmament
Despite early pledges to seek a nuclear-free world, Obama is launching a "modernization" of the US arsenal that actually makes atomic war more likely.
Planet Watch
Russia files revised bid for arctic territory
Russia’s Foreign Ministry submitted a new bid claiming over 350 nautical miles of oil-rich Arctic sea shelf before the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.
Planet Watch
Ice Age fears: don’t believe the hype
Russia Today trumpets specious claims of a new Little Ice Age—convenient propaganda for Putin to go on exploiting Arctic oil without worrying about global warming.
Europe
Srebrenica at 20: ‘door open for a new war’?
The 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre comes just as Russia vetoed a UN resolution to designate the massacre an act of "genocide"—leading to new violence in Bosnia.
Planet Watch
Doomsday Clock: three minutes of midnight
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has set the hands of its iconic Doomsday Clock at three minutes to midnight—two minutes closer than in 2014.
Europe
Europe: destroying freedom to save it
At thier meeting in Paris to condemn the attack on Charlie Hebdo, European Union government ministers issued a statement calling for further restrictions on the Internet.
Planet Watch
Behind oil slump: shale boom or geopolitics?
Experts tell us the North American shale oil boom is responsible for low prices despite Middle East unrest. But the price slump serves Western aims of weakening Russia and Iran.