MIDDLE EAST STUDIES

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