Section: The Conversation (USA)
Russia and Turkey: a long history of turbulent relations
Parkhet PPIn locking horns over Syria, Russia and Turkey are playing out the latest chapter in a rivalry that has spanned centuries. Since the 1600s the two have lurched between conflict and uneasy friendship. But the war of words that has erupted since Turkey shot down a Russian jet it claims entered its airspace this month has notched tensions...
The next war will be an information war, and we’re not ready for it
Aaron AnsarovIn the 21st century the familiar form of warfare in which physical damage is meted out against the opponent’s military forces and infrastructure has become only one form of attack. Instead, states are increasingly launching non-lethal attacks against an enemy’s information systems – this is the rise of information...
Russia, Turkey and the US: between the terrible and the catastrophic
The Turkish Embassy in Moscow under siege. Sergei Karpukhin/ReutersThe downing of Russia’s plane by Turkish military forces over the skies of the Syrian-Turkish border has added yet another layer of complexity to the vortex of conflict in the Middle East. Most of the prior concern had focused on the prospect of the US clashing with Russia...
Paris climate talks: Russia will use its huge forests as a bargaining chip
Russia has lots of gas – but needs a lot of heat. Ilya Naymushin / ReutersRussia has a reputation as one of the more difficult states involved in international climate negotiations – and don’t expect things to change at the latest UN conference in Paris. After all, this is a country with vast oil and gas reserves, brutal winters and a...
The Geneva summit thawed the Cold War – so why have we squandered its legacy?
Warm relations: US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev at the 1985 summit in Geneva. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BYThirty years ago, US president Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev met in Geneva for their first summit. And in retrospect, the historic...
How Islamic law can take on ISIS
At prayer in Paris. Jacky Naegelen/ReutersThe media coverage of the terrorist atrocities of Friday November 13 in Paris would seem to promote an almost mythical image of the Islamic State (ISIS). What humanity needs, however, is to demystify ISIS as a criminal organization. And that need is particularly important in my community – the Muslim...
Under the sea: Russia, China and American control of the waterways
The USS Roosevelt sails the South China Sea. US Navy/ReutersIn the summer of 2007, in a bizarre incident shown live on Russian television, scientists accompanied by a couple of senior politicians descended 4,300 meters to the floor of the Arctic Ocean in two Mir mini submarines. Divers then planted a Russian flag on the seabed, and Russia...
In the verses of Jordan’s most popular poet, the hopes and fears of the Arab world
The Bedouin poet Muhammad Fanatil al-Hajaya. Author providedMuhammad Fanatil al-Hajaya’s poetry is full of arguments one would hear on the streets of Amman, Riyadh and Cairo, in coffee shops, barber shops and taxis. Laden with animals, conspiracy theories and apocalyptic rhetoric, his verses reflect how many Arabs – educated and uneducated,...
US fears a Russian attack on undersea internet cables that could plunge world into chaos
EPA/Pavel KonovovIt may sound far-fetched at first, but there’s a growing fear of the damage a newly aggressive Russia might inflict in a time of tension or conflict simply by damaging or cutting the undersea cables that carry almost all of the West’s internet traffic. The New York Times reported that Russian submarines and spy ships...
US fears Russian attack on internet cables could plunge world into chaos
EPA/Pavel KonovovIt may sound far-fetched at first, but there’s a growing fear of the damage a newly aggressive Russia might inflict in a time of tension or conflict simply by damaging or cutting the undersea cables that carry almost all of the West’s internet traffic. The New York Times reported that Russian submarines and spy ships...
