Category: Blogs

Why the Opposition Can’t Fight in the Coastal Mountains

By Saleem al-Omar

Frequently, activists of different stripes call for revenge against the regime for Aleppo or the Damascus countryside by opening the Syrian coastal front where, during the last four years (prior to the Russian intervention), the opposition controlled wide swaths of the mountains. That is, until the Russians forced the opposition groups to withdraw and only […]

Tunisia’s 2017 Budget: The Rocky Way Ahead

By Karim Mezran and Elissa Miller

On December 10, following weeks of negotiations, Tunisia’s parliament approved a $14 billion budget for 2017. The budget includes a number of provisions aimed at cutting the country’s deficit in line with the economic reform plan of Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, who was appointed in August of this year. However, the controversy surrounding the budget […]

Head of Intelligence Warns of Russian Influence Operations Inside Sweden

By The Local (Sweden)

Must is the branch of the Swedish Armed Forces that is the main foreign intelligence agency in the country. Its head, Major General Gunnar Karlson, spoke openly about Russian attempts to influence Sweden during an interview with SVT’s Agenda show on Sunday evening….

Swedish Tech Entrepreneurs Find Top Talent and Warm Welcome in Ukraine

By Diane Francis

Gustav Henman describes his time at Moscow State University as a “Russian cold shower.” But he was no stranger to cold weather as a Swede, and has ended up in Ukraine, where the weather is slightly more moderate and the engineering talent plentiful. He and his business partner, Andreas Flodström, went to Ukraine in 2012 […]

Copts Bear Brunt of a Shift in Terror Strategy in Egypt

By Mokhtar Awad

On December 11 at approximately 10 AM, Cairo time, a bomb ripped through the St. Paul and St. Peter Church in the Cairo district of Abassiya, killing 25 and injuring over 50 worshipers. Eyewitnesses described to local media a harrowing scene of devastation Cairo’s citizens haven’t felt in a long time. The explosion, which reportedly […]

Energy Reform Takes Hold in Mexico

By Lourdes Melgar

Three years after its historic approval, with the conclusion of Round One and the first farm out of Pemex, Mexico’s energy reform in the upstream—the exploration and production sector—is beginning to consolidate itself.  On December 5, for the first time in Mexico’s history, international and national oil companies bid competitively for blocks in the deep […]

Mr. Trump, Put the Ball in Eritrea’s Court

With the growing threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham in Africa and shifting alliances in the region with the Arab Gulf states and Egypt, it is in the best interest of the incoming US administration to reassess engagement with Eritrea, a country which could play a significant strategic role in countering conflict […]