Written by Dr Yiorghos Leventis* On either side of the Aegean Sea a Greek tragedy, in its full sense and extent, is being performed before our eyes. As the whole world witnesses the unfolding multiple Greek tragedy – huge foreign debt leading to economic, institutional and above all moral…
Read MoreWritten by Dr. Dimitrios N. Koumparoulis Rebel forces have apparently taken more of the country’s oil refining (Zawiya) and processing infrastructure (Brega). Most observers give the Gaddafi regime limited time before a full regime change takes place in Libya. Watch what happens to oil prices if and when the Gaddafis…
Read MoreWritten by Mr. Frederic Labarre The pressures faced by NATO and EU members in meeting austerity measures while maintaining military readiness are unprecedented not by their scale and intensity, but by the conjunction of several political and social features. First, the economic crisis stimulates political isolationism and economic nationalism,…
Read MoreWritten by Mr. Simon Bahceli* Tens of thousands of mainland Turks could soon become new ‘citizens’ of the breakaway north, according to critics of an “immigration regulation” approved by the Turkish Cypriot ‘council of ministers’ yesterday. Although details of the regulation were yet to be made public, the north’s…
Read MoreWritten by Mr. Vercihan Ziflioğlu* Turkey’s Syriac community, who adopted Turkish surnames, now want their original surnames back. Yet, a top court says that the laws don’t allow such a move. Members of Turkey’s Syriac Christian community are leading a legal struggle to adopt last names that reflect their identity…
Read MoreUnder the leadership of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Turkey has pursued a policy of good relations with all its neighbours. Well, almost. It has de-mined its border with Syria, tripled trade with Iran, established diplomatic relations with Armenia and reduced its military activities in…
Read MoreDr. Yiorghos Leventis, Director of International Security Forum (ISF), represented the organization upon invitation at the XXIV Winter Course of the International School on Disarmament & Research on Conflicts (ISODARCO), Italian Pugwash Group. The course focused on the theme of Eliminating Nuclear Weapons and Safeguarding Nuclear Technologies. A group of…
Read MoreSix months have elapsed since the tabling of NATO’s new Strategic Concept, and already we see, with the Arab Spring, the limits of the Alliance’s extra-territorial crisis-management capacity. By this I don’t mean the relative inability of the “Unified Protector” mission to decide the fate of Libya. In fact, NATO’s…
Read MoreAfter the collapse of the bipolar Cold-War stalemate that had constrained and antagonised international relations for half a century, the main concern has been putting the world together again. Both the US Security Concept and the EU 1993 Security Strategy indicated “failed States” as the main threat to peace and…
Read MoreWritten by Dr Yiorghos Leventis* SPECIAL ISF ANNIVERSARY FEATURE ARTICLE The latest incident authored last Sunday (17 April 2011) in Berlin by an excessive and arrogant Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish Foreign Minister, serves as a cool reminder of the troublemaking policies of his country. Turkey, a staunch NATO ally, sporting…
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