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TAP pipeline

EnergySource

Nov 14, 2019

Trans Adriatic Pipeline expansion

By Daniel D. Stein

At least some of the energy security value of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) could be in question. While important details remain inaccessible to the public, if Gazprom, a Russian company, is able to book capacity in the expansion of the final leg of the SGC, known as the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), Gazprom would be able to use a project of strategic importance to European energy security to enhance its own position within European energy markets.

European Union Geopolitics & Energy Security
Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul)

EnergySource

Nov 13, 2019

The Saudi Aramco IPO: A valuation saga

By Private: Jean-François Seznec

The Saudi stock exchange in Riyadh has approved the trading of Saudi Aramco’s shares on the local stock market, signaling a rapid start to the initial public offering (IPO). The various investment banks looking to place and sell the shares to their clients have given widely different, but generally low, value to the company and the shares.

Energy Markets & Governance Energy Transitions

UkraineAlert

Nov 13, 2019

Eight obstacles to Ukraine achieving peace with Russia

By Taras Kuzio

The bottom line is anybody who believes Kyiv can negotiate anything with a foreign power that has no respect for Ukraine as a sovereign country and Ukrainians as a separate people is deluding themselves.

Conflict Crisis Management

IranSource

Nov 13, 2019

Iran and Europe play nuclear chicken

By Barbara Slavin

Neither Europe nor Iran wants to see the destruction of the JCPOA, which represented for each the culmination of twelve years of hard diplomatic work, initially without US participation.

Iran Middle East

New Atlanticist

Nov 12, 2019

“Brain-dead” or not “brain-dead”? That is not the question.

By Olivier-Rémy Bel

Macron's interview is not about NATO or the United States, but rather about Europe. His interview reflects deep worries that Europe is gradually being on the menu of global power politics and about the means to ensure that it is at the table instead.

Defense Policy France

MENASource

Nov 12, 2019

Revolution in Lebanon

By Frederic C. Hof

The peaceful protests sweeping Lebanon are revolutionary. Lebanese of multiple political persuasions and all sects have a powerful message for a political class whose incompetence is equaled only by its corruption: Go Away.  To date the principal defender of this abysmal political class and Lebanon’s miserable status quo (featuring a failing economy from which the […]

Corruption Middle East

MENASource

Nov 12, 2019

Art of the Egyptian revolution

By MENASource

In 2011, Egyptians came out in unprecedented numbers to organize and build a revolution that inspired the region. One of the ways they did this was through street art. MENASource interviewed well-known Egyptian artist Ammar Abo Bakr on how street art began in Egypt and where it stands today.

Human Rights Middle East

IranSource

Nov 12, 2019

Iran isn’t dashing toward a bomb—for now

By Kelsey Davenport

Iran’s most recent step to breach the nuclear restrictions in the 2015 multilateral deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) does not pose a near-term proliferation risk, but it is a significant escalation by Tehran that risks shutting the door on negotiations to restore compliance with the accord. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani […]

Arms Control Security & Defense

UkraineAlert

Nov 11, 2019

Bitter harvest

By Bohdan Nahaylo

Moscow is not eager to deal in the Normandy Four format with a Ukrainian president who has turned out to be a stronger defender of Ukraine’s interests than it anticipated.

Conflict Crisis Management

SyriaSource

Nov 8, 2019

The death of Baghdadi: How ISIS used al-Qaeda’s mistakes to grow a caliphate

By Amanda E. Rogers

Optimistic predictions about the end of the Islamic State (ISIS) surged in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s October 27 press conference announcing the death of the ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but prove misguided in the long term. The threat posed by ISIS remains high, particularly outside the para-state’s previously held territories in […]

Extremism Iraq