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Estonian President Toomas Henrik Ilves, Sept. 25, 2009

NATOSource

Oct 6, 2014

Tensions Surge in Estonia Amid a Russian Replay of Cold War Tactics

By Andrew Higgins, New York Times

So far, the only solid fact, at least according to Estonia’s version of what happened in a thicket of pine trees and scrub on the border here with Russia, is that a well-trained and well-armed squad of Russian security operatives crossed into Estonia on Sept. 5 and grabbed Eston Kohver

Intelligence NATO

MENASource

Oct 6, 2014

Top News: AQAP Executes Fourteen Soldiers in Hadramout

By MENASource

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released a video Sunday night showing the execution of fourteen soldiers in the city of Shibam from August. The video depicts al-Qaeda forces waylaying a military bus and kidnapping the soldiers on board. The leader of the militant force claims the soldiers are Houthis whose political forces have been […]

MENASource

Oct 6, 2014

Top News: Egypt Arrests Militants Recruiting for ISIS

By EgyptSource

Egypt’s state news agency says security forces have arrested four suspected members of a militant cell recruiting fighters for the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham.

UkraineAlert

Oct 6, 2014

Four More Crimean Tatars Vanish, One Dead Amid Russian Crackdown

By James Rupert

19 Tatars Abducted or Disappeared Since Moscow’s Takeover of Crimea At least nineteen ethnic Tatars have been abducted or have disappeared in Russian-ruled Crimea, four of them in the past ten days, Tatar and human rights activists say. Russian authorities up to the office of President Vladimir Putin have promised to investigate the disappearances, which […]

Russia Ukraine

MENASource

Oct 6, 2014

EconSource: Yemen Reform Plan Still Broadly In Line with IMF Loan Terms– Lagarde

By EconSource

Follow the latest in economic news and developments about the Arab transition countries. 

SouthAsiaSource

Oct 3, 2014

This Week in South Asia: September 27 – October 3

By Elijah Logsdon and Refayat Haque

Commentary from the South Asia Center on the most relevant news from the region, and suggested “must-read” analyses from the week. AfghanistanThis week newly sworn-in Afghan President Ashraf Ghani signed the long-delayed Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) agreement with the United States, along with the NATO Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). By choosing to sign these […]

Afghanistan India

MENASource

Oct 3, 2014

The Campaign Against ISIS: Is Syria an Afterthought?

By Frederic C. Hof

There is a belief in certain quarters of the Pentagon, and perhaps elsewhere in the executive branch, that the military mission of the campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS, or ISIL) is to defeat ISIS in Iraq; that airstrikes in Syria are intended only to enhance the ability of the Iraqi […]

Syria

UkraineAlert

Oct 3, 2014

Ukraine’s New Parliament Will Strengthen Poroshenko, but Independents Will Make It Unpredictable

By New Atlanticist

Analysis: Putin Unlikely to Scrap the Ceasefire Before October 26 Vote While Russia’s President Vladimir Putin still has unmet ambitions in Ukraine, he is likely to avoid launching any new military offensive there before Ukraine’s October 26 parliamentary election, writes Timothy Ash, an economist who directs emerging markets strategy at Standard Bank in London. Putin […]

Russia Ukraine
Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland in Kiev, Feb. 7, 2014

NATOSource

Oct 3, 2014

US Worried about ‘Twin Cancers of Democratic Backsliding and Corruption’ in Central Europe

By Victoria Nuland, Department of State

We live in a better world because the countries of Central Europe chose the path of a Europe whole, free and at peace 25 years ago. But today that choice is under threat, and Central Europe is once again on the frontline

Central Europe Hungary

MENASource

Oct 3, 2014

Top News: ISIS Tightens Noose Around Ayn al-Arab; Turkish Parliament Expands War Powers

By MENASource

ISIS fighters continued to close in on three sides of the border town of Ayan al-Arab (Kobani in Kurdish), digging trenches and lobbing mortar fire. Kurdish sources predicted a wide-scale massacre should ISIS overrun the city. The campaign by ISIS has already captured over one hundred villages and displaced approximately 300,000.