Harris A. Samaras
(An Economist and presently the Chairman & Group CEO of Pytheas, an international investment banking organization, Harris has also worked with the Bank of America Group, Thomson Financial BankWatch, and Moody’s Investors Service.)

Copyright: www.defencegreece.com 

The European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the international media blame Cyprus’ banking practices as the main cause of the crisis… and made sure, that the economy of Cyprus was ruined in just a weekend!!! Manically, German and French mainly politicians, argued that Cyprus is harboring criminal money, that Cyprus is an offshore tax haven and a money laundering center!.... Read more

Dr. Moshe Terdiman
(Director of Green Compass Research & expert on Islam in Africa, the Caribbean Basin, Islamic social issues and the environmental policy in the Middle East)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

As a result of climate change and global warming, the Middle East and North Africa, including the Sahel, face five main environmental security challenges: water security, food security, energy security, land degradation, and desertification. Combined with huge population growth and other political, economic and social stresses, the impacts of climate change and global warming may exacerbate existent issues and, thus, undermine the survival of longstanding regimes all over the region and cause the breakout of conflicts within several countries, such as Syria, Sudan, and Mali.

Dr.  Alobeid Aref
(Εxpert in Middle East Affairs)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

The Syrian crisis is approaching two years and the reality is tragic as the deaths have exceeded fifty thousand officially but unofficially the number is much bigger, tens of thousands have been arrested and thousands missing, the injured cannot be counted because they do not dare to go to hospitals because of the regime's reprisals. Today, violations of human rights, torture, rape, extortion, bombings and the lack of essential goods are the everyday life of the Syrian citizens.

Dr Glen Segell
(FRGS, is Researcher at The Institute for National Security Studies Tel Aviv and Lecturer at Bar-Ilan University)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr
 

This year, 2013 marks 40 years since the 1973 Yom Kippur War between Israel and her neighboring states. It was the last major Arab-Israel inter-state war in the Middle East that was symmetrical between the conflicting states. Since then there have been numerous asymmetrical military operations by Israel into Lebanon, and even more military operations involving the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Interspersed have been two Palestinian Intifada (uprisings) and substantial counter-insurgency, anti-terrorist and anti-weapons of mass destruction strikes. These have included the 1976 rescue of hostages at Entebbe Airport, and the 1981 destruction of the Iraqi nuclear reactor under construction. Despite this large accolade of military successes and political stalemates, it is the 1973 Yom Kippur War that dominates history as Israel's military nightmare in intelligence failures as well as standing out as the start of her political dream of a peace-treaty with a Muslim country, Egypt. .....  Read more

Professor Anis H. Bajrektarevic
(Geopolitics of Energy Editorial Member, Chairperson for Intl. Law & Global Pol. Studies
& University of Applied Sciences in Krems, Austria)

Copyright: Anis H. Bajrektarevic on line

There is a claim currently circulating the EU, both cynical and misleading: ‘multiculturalism is dead in Europe’. No wonder, as the conglomerate of nation-states/EU has silently handed over one of its most important debates – that of European identity – to the wing-parties, recently followed by the several selective and contra-productive foreign policy actions. Europe’s domestic cohesion, its fundamental realignment as well as the overall public standing and credibility within its strategic neighborhood lies in the reinvigoration of its everything but institutions transformative powers – stipulated in the Barcelona process of the European Neighborhood Policy as well as in the Euro-Med partnership (OSCE)....  Read more  

Aya Burweila
(RIEAS Senior Analyst)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

On October 23, 2011, only a few days after the sodomization and subsequent execution of Gaddafi,  NTC chairman Mustapha al-Jalil declared the country ‘liberated.’ In the very same breath, he also promised that Sharia law would now be "the basic source of legislation, and so any law which contradicts Islamic principles is void" while previous "legislation putting restrictions on polygamy is contradictory to Islamic legislation and so is annulled." .....  Read more

Zhyldyz Oskonbaeva
(RIEAS Senior Advisor & Eurasian Liaison)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

Power - defined as access to national assets and possession of territorial integrity has to be always ensured by someone. It is always ready to be guarded by force if needed and by the civil order of the people in order to perpetuate it. Whether it is purely religious, political dogma or indoctrination, all facets of society have to be uniquely harmonized in order to be effective. The unity of ruling power often assures this either through ethnical, religious, professional, even tribal congeniality or their combination.  Even the most narcissistic ruler needs close allies in the military corps and intelligence so he will not lose this power. Although there are too many historical examples where kings or dictators were assassinated by those entrusted with their safety, it is still expected for those ruling within an elite minority to retain this unity.  In return, the safety of one assures the rise of the other within the clique, at least professionally. With the rise of one of their own to the top, patronage dictates that a brother, cousin, member of the tribe or even sect will benefit as well.... Read more 

Anita Rai
(Author, Book titled: “Jihad and Terrorism”, UK)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

After a large group of Iranian hardliners had rampaged two compounds of the British Embassy in Tehran on Tuesday 29 November 2011, Ali Larijani - the speaker of Iran’s parliament said, “the attack was Britain’s fault for interfering in Iran’s affairs and trying to dominate it over the decades.”  (Iran: UK diplomatic break is step into unknown, John Simpson, World Affairs Editor, BBC News, 30 Nov, 2011). Simpson also says that Ali Larijani “speaks for a great many people in Iran”.

Daniel Little
(RIEAS Senior Advisor)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

In order to understand the world around us, we create storylines, even metaphors to explain what is occurring around us.  With the unrest in Syria, the threat posed by a nuclear Iran, even terrorism against Israel is part of a larger story that continues to unfold in front of us.  I contend that the story we thought we knew is different than what is emerging.  Part of its origin dates far back in history. While the historical schism between Sunni and Shia has its roots in 10 October, 680,1the iteration now developing is unique with the implications leading towards World War if left unchecked.  To be clear, this is not to say that World War is inevitable.  Instead it is a precise sequencing of events that makes this a possibility if not examined and anticipated in advance.  Such fractious reactions and consequences are not without precedence in history.  Had an Austrian Archduke not boarded a carriage in Sarajevo in 1914, there might still be monarchies in Germany and Russia not to mention an empire in Istanbul. Like the effect of Versailles on the world politics that followed, the sequencing of dramatic actions can cause ripple effects that emanate for generations......  Read more

By Joseph Lerner
(Senior Analyst)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

For the past three years the reports, analyses, studies and scholarly works in the international community have been increasingly focusing on the Iranians’ nuclear program. The international community, rightfully so, especially the NATO nations and Israelis are gravely concerned about the Iranians’ ability to build nuclear warhead within months. One doesn't need to cite other scholarly works or reports when discussing these issues, since these are common knowledge amongst those who are involved in studying and analysing the geopolitics of the Middle East, Iran and the Iranians’ nuclear program.

Alexis Giannoulis
(RIEAS Associate and Independent Research Analyst)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

Strategic decisions such as preventive and preemptive strikes are usually based on drivers, some directly others indirectly linked to the main objective. Since 2002 and the discovery of the Natanz secret nuclear facility some 200 km from Tehran (1), Israel and the West have been trying to put an end to the country’s nuclear programme which, Tehran has always claimed it is aimed at solely peaceful, i.e energy related objectives.

Anis H. Bajrektarevic
(Geopolitics of Energy Editorial Member, Chairperson for Intl. Law & Global Pol. Studies,  University of Applied Sciences IMC–Krems, Austria)

Copyright: Anis H. Bajrektarevic on line

For the disciplinary scholars of geoeconomics and for the geopolitics chessboard practitioners, the current events in (and around) the Arab countries are particularly instructive. ...  Read more

Vassilios Damiras
(Counterterrorism and Defense Analyst, USA)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

Greece and Israel's rich and complicated histories and cultures have seen them associated with all the crucial historical developments in the eastern Mediterranean, Balkan and Middle East regions. The Jewish Zionist movement that was created in the late 19th century by Theodore Herzl had very similar characteristics to the Greek irredentist movement of the “Great Idea.” Both nations have triumphed as Diaspora. Both ethnic groups have been occupied by the Ottomans yet still managed to influence the economy of the Ottoman Empire. Both countries are Western-style democracies, allied to the United States and located within a crucial geostrategic region.

By Joseph Lerner
(Political and Intelligence Analyst)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

The Arab Spring as a political phenomenon has given rise to various populist uprisings against the tyrannical regimes such as Egypt’s Revolution and Libya’s revolt. Few years ago, the Libyan people couldn’t even imagine capturing Tripoli and arresting two of Gadhafi’s sons. Who thought that one day Hosni Mubarak ally of the US to be put on trial in Cairo? It is true that the Arab Spring was inspired and started by the Tunisian populist uprising, but each case such as Egypt, Libya, Bahrain and Syria’s populist uprising has a different and unique nature. 

One of the most unique movements in the Middle East is the Syrian populist uprising. Syria, due to its geostrategic position, history and political culture has been always attracting various regional and international power players as a country to politically and economically invest in. The US, France, Germany, Turkey, Iran, Russia, China and other countries have been aware of the sensitivity and complexity of the issues when it comes to Syria, and the Syrian people’s aspiration for democracy and freedom. For this reason Syria has become the country where various parties such as Iran and Turkey are flexing their political and diplomatic mussels to gain leverage to influence Syria’s future.

Dr Barah Mikail
(Senior Researcher, Middle East and North Africa, FRIDE Think Tank, Spain) 

Copyright:  www.rieas.gr

As events have unfolded across the MENA region over the last six months, violence in Syria has reached unbearable degrees. Bachar al-Assad’s regime has managed to crush anti-government demonstrations despite criticism and sanctions adopted by the “international community”. The more criticism has been forthcoming, the more the Syrian government has propagated the foreign conspiracy by-line. Indeed, the regional environment is sensitive enough to have anyone refrain from reiterating the Libyan experience.

Ioannis Chapsos
(Commander, Hellenic Navy (PhD Cand), Hellenic Supreme Joint War College Instructor, Global Security specialist)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

The new wars

After the end of the ‘Cold War’ we experienced a metamorphosis of the traditional conflicts per se. Interstate conflicts tend to eclipse and a new form of long lasting intrastate violence has emerged . The only interstate conflict waged in the last decade was the one between Russia and Georgia and it didn’t last for more than a week . Read more

Dr. Shlomo Shpiro
(Deputy chairman of the Political Studies Department at Bar-Ilan University, senior research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, and chairman of the International Intelligence History Association (IIHA).

Copyright: http://www.biu.ac.il/Besa/

Note: BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 134, March 23, 2011

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: While Western powers have stepped in to enforce the UN Security Council's 'no fly zone' over Libya, depriving Muammar Gaddafi of his air power alone will not ensure victory for the insurgents on the ground. Covert action, conducted by intelligence operatives, can clandestinely provide the rebels with the funds, arms, communication equipment and intelligence information crucial for their success, without the need for Western forces to intervene on the ground. Such a strategy can also help unite the insurgents in order to create a unified military response to Gaddafi's army.

Μάνου Ηλιάδη
(Δημοσιογράφος)

Copyright: Κόσμο του Επενδυτή

Οι μυστικές υπηρεσίες των τριών γειτονικών κρατών φέρονται να προωθούν κοινές επιχειρήσεις δολοφονίας επιφανών Κούρδων, και μάλιστα στην καρδιά της Ευρώπης, στις Βρυξέλλες

Πληροφορίες από άκρως αξιόπιστες κουρδικές πηγές, που αναφέρονται σε συγκεκριμένη κοινή επιχείρηση των τουρκικών, ιρανικών και συριακών μυστικών υπηρεσιών εναντίον στελεχών των Κούρδων στις Βρυξέλλες, αποκαλύπτουν μία ιδιαίτερα ενδιαφέρουσα διάσταση των σχέσεων της Τουρκίας με τις χώρες αυτές, και κυρίως με το Ιράν.

Anita Rai
(Author of the Book: “Jihad and Terrorism”)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

The people of Egypt are stepping up pressure on Hosni Mubarak, the country’s longest ruling leader to step down from the President’s post. In power for thirty years, Mubarak has ruled Egypt with an iron hand armed with a brutal security apparatus. Legitimate desire of the people to free themselves from the clutches of an authoritarian regime, however must be realised with caution. Not just the West, but the global community as a whole, cannot afford to have the continuing political chaos culminate in the Islamists coming to power in Egypt, whose stability is a must for the peace of the region and the world. Read more

Nikolas Stylianou
(RIEAS Research Associate, Security Analyst)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr
The incident on the Mavi Marmara on the 31st of May introduced a new era in Turkish – Israeli bilateral relations and many analysts and diplomats argue that this crisis between the former strategic allies has come to indicate that their political and geostrategic agenda, especially regarding the Middle East radically differs, especially after AKP, came to power in 2003. The current article seeks to address the role of Cyprus in regards to the rapid developments in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East and what strategies it should pursue in order to enhance its position in the region.