Category: Blogs

Top News: Libya’s GNC Delays Peace Talks After Official Quits

Delegates for Libya’s rival GNC parliament will hold off joining peace talks that were due to start today until they manage to form a new team following the resignation of a senior negotiator, a representative said.

EconSource: Kurds Vow Steady Payments to Oil Companies as Exports Rise

By EconSource

Iraqi Kurdistan said on Thursday it expects to begin making regular payments to oil exporting companies in the first half of September.

Turkey’s Counterterrorism Policies: Targeting ISIS and the PKK

By Aaron Stein

Turkey has recently launched a large-scale anti-terror campaign targeting Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) networks and suspected members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)—a US, EU, and Turkish designated terror group.

Things Are Looking Up for Ukraine: Debt Deal Reached

By Anders Åslund

Today Ukraine received great news. Private owners of $19 billion of Ukraine’s Eurobonds have agreed to a substantial debt restructuring that will give Ukraine much-needed relief. The high bond yields have been sharply reduced, the bonds’ maturities have been prolonged, and the face value of the bonds has been reduced by 20 percent. According to […]

Yet Another Peace Deal in South Sudan

By Ashish Kumar Sen

International community must keep up pressure to ensure this agreement sticks, says Atlantic Council’s J. Peter Pham The international community must keep up its pressure on rival sides in South Sudan if it wants to ensure the success of a peace agreement President Salva Kiir reluctantly signed August 26, says the Atlantic Council’s J. Peter […]

Finland ‘In No Position’ to Defend Baltic States: President

By AFP and YLE

From AFP:  Finland is in no position to help defend its Baltic neighbours and fellow EU members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania should it become necessary, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said on Tuesday.

Top News: Syrian Antiquities and the ISIS Billion-Dollar Economy

ISIS is awash in cash, terrorist financing experts say. Extortion and taxation of the populations the group controls, illicit oil sales, ransoms, seizures of bank deposits, and now the sale of small antiquities are all contributing to ISIS’s coffers.

EconSource: Saudi Arabia Remains Committed to Dollar Peg

By EconSource

Pressure on the Saudi Arabian riyal in the currency forwards market eased on Tuesday after Ahmed al-Kholifi, Deputy Governor for Research and International Affairs at the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), said the kingdom was committed to keeping the riyal pegged to the US dollar.

Top News: Too Early to Judge Iran Deal, says Egypt Presidency

By EgyptSource

In a meeting Wednesday with the media delegation accompanying President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on his visit to Russia, spokesman Alaa Youssef said that the Egyptian presidency believes it is too early to judge the nuclear deal signed by six leading world powers and Iran.