Canberra, 8 February 2016 For nearly four years of the Civil War, Russia was content with providing traditional support through the provision of arms and logistics to its client-state Syria, while the Assad regime battled for its very existence. Therefore, the direct military intervention in September 2015 can be considered a revolutionary act by […]
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SAUDI ARABIA AND IRAN: DRAWING THE BATTLE LINES
January 20, 2016 
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Canberra, 20 January 2016 Ever since King Salman came to power in early 2015 and brought about sweeping changes in the hierarchy within the monarchy, the administration has been pursuing a more vigorous foreign policy than the one followed by the previous regime of King Abdullah. The focused objective has been to limit to the […]
Continue readingThe Middle-East: An Open Pandora’s Box
December 12, 2015 1 Comment
Singapore, 12 December 2015 Even before the discovery of the vast oil reserves in the region, the Middle-East had been the stomping ground of the global powers of the time. The past century has seen the region embroiled in convoluted conflicts that have simmered and altered shape, but have never really been brought to […]
Continue readingA METHOD TO MADNESS? TURKEY SHOOTS DOWN A RUSSIAN FIGHTER AIRCRAFT
December 2, 2015 2 Comments
Canberra, 2 December 2015 On Tuesday 23 November a Russian Air Force Su-24 Fencer ground attack aircraft was shot down by an AIM-120 AMRAAM missile fired by a Turkish Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon interceptor aircraft. The pilot was killed by ground fire after he and his navigator ejected successfully from the stricken aircraft […]
Continue readingTURKEY – AT A CRITICAL JUNCTURE
November 16, 2015 0 Comments
Canberra, 16 November 2015 The 2002 electoral victory of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi or AKP) was a turning point in modern Turkey’s political narrative. The relatively young leadership of the party, while subscribing to the secular basis of the Turkish Republic, was openly demonstrative of their devout Muslim identity and […]
Continue readingRUSSIA IN THE MIDDLE-EAST: ALTERING THE GEO-STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENT
October 22, 2015 1 Comment
Canberra, 22 October 2015 In the second half of September, Russia moved military forces predominated by air assets, into Bassel al-Assad international airport in the Latakia province of Syria. This deployment made it impossible for the anti-Assad forces to capture the province and also provided a logistics lifeline to the military forces of the Syrian […]
Continue readingTHE ISLAMIC STATE—UNDERSTANDING AND COUNTERING ITS STRATEGY
September 22, 2015 3 Comments
Canberra, 22 September 2015 The Islamic State (IS) has been fighting the combined military might of the US-led coalition for over a year without having been contained or defeated as was promised by world leaders at the start of the war. The term ‘war’ is being used after due consideration, for what is going on […]
Continue readingTHE IMPROBABILITY OF PEACE IN SYRIA
August 25, 2015 1 Comment
Canberra, 25 August 2015 The regime of President Bashar al-Assad now effectively controls only about one-sixth of the territory of original Syria and its control is diminishing on a daily basis because it is losing territory to insurgents and facing a manpower shortage in the military. Till recently the regime continued to hold the core […]
Continue readingTURKEY ENTERS THE MAELSTROM
August 10, 2015 1 Comment
Canberra, 10 August 2015 Turkey is a NATO member and its location at the confluence of Europe, the Middle-East, the Caucasus and the Balkans is a definitive strategic advantage. This location and its history have provided Turkey with ethnic, religious, linguistic and cultural connections with a large number of nations, some of which may not […]
Continue readingSAUDI ARABIA: CHARTING A COMPLEX COURSE
July 11, 2015 3 Comments
Canberra, 11 July 2015 From the very beginning of their rule of the Saudi kingdom, the al-Saud family has embraced the principles and practices of the Wahabi ideology, an extreme and strict version of Islam. The support for the extreme variety of Wahabi teachings increased in 1979 after Ayatollah Khomeini came to power in neighbouring […]
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Sanu Kainikara 
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