Geopolitical

Memri Russia This Week is a weekly review by the MEMRI Russian Media Studies Project, covering the latest Russia-related news and analysis from media in Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe. Cartoon of the Week Quote Of The Week: Commenting on United Russia's victory in the 2016 Duma elections, Russian President...

FM Spokeswoman Zakharova Rails Against The U.S. Administration For Imposing New Sanctions: ‘Today America And The American People Were Disparaged By Their Own President’ On December 29, the Obama Administration sanctioned Russia’s security services and military intelligence and declared 35 diplomats persona non grata, calling Moscow's "malicious cyber-enabled activities" a...

The Fourth of July weekend gave me time to consider events in Iraq and Ukraine, U.S.-German relations and the Mexican borderland and immigration. I did so in the context of the founding of the United States, asking myself if America has strayed from the founders' intent with regard to...

Europe and the financial markets watched intently June 17 as Greece held general elections. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti all delayed their flights to the June 18 G-20 summit in Mexico to await the results. The two leading contenders...

In general, Stratfor deals with U.S. domestic politics only to the extent that it affects international affairs. Certainly, this topic has been argued and analyzed extensively. Nevertheless, the shutdown of the American government is a topic that must be understood from our point of view, because it raises the...

The circles of the righteous are operated as part of a program to further the indoctrination of Basij members, applied since June 2008 in mosques across Iran that serve as Basij bases. According to the Basij chief, there are approximately 200 thousand such circles in the program. Each circle...

Russia This Week is a weekly review by the MEMRI Russian Media Studies Project, covering the latest Russia-related news and analysis from media in Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe.   Zakharova Dixit Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova is one of the most-quoted Russian officials. She is known for...

A deal between Iran and the P-5+1 (the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany) was reached Saturday night. The Iranians agreed to certain limitations on their nuclear program while the P-5+1 agreed to remove certain economic sanctions. The next negotiation, scheduled for six months from...

In a July 24 op-ed in the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Lebanese journalist Huda Al-Husseini criticized Hamas' conduct in its fighting with Israel in the Gaza Strip. She said that Hamas' military wing started the war at the time of its choosing, and did so after it was...