Vladimir Simonov
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16.06.2016
Qatar: Wind of Change or a Minor Facelift?
After the Cabinet reshuffling at the beginning of this year, when many prominent representatives of the Al-Attiyah clan, the second most powerful after the House of Thani, were replaced with members of the ruling dynasty, some experts in the West and Russia jumped to the conclusion that the “Gas Emirate’s” policy would be changing as […]
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09.06.2016
OPEC Meeting and its Consequences for Oil Producers
The results of the recent OPEC meeting were fairly predictable – with all member states announcing their reluctance to cut oil production levels, with some even planning to increase them. In the meantime, Iran wants to get back the market share it had before it was hit by international sanctions. In this situation the first […]
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16.03.2016
Would Moscow Persuade Damascus to Take Peace Seriously?
Late on March 14, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin summoned Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to the Kremlin in order to announce in front of numerous TV crews that Russia was beginning a partial withdrawal of its troops from Syria. The Head of State explained this step by noting that Russian pilots have successfully […]
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11.12.2015
McCain is Playing Chicken With Baghdad
According to the Iraq Press Agency, the head of the Iraqi parliamentary bloc Irada, Hannan al-Fetlaui stated that up to 100,00 foreign troops are headed to Iraq. Up to 90,000 are going to be sent by the Arab and Gulf States to Iraq to fight the Islamic State (ISIL), while another 10,000 will come from the United States. According to […]
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19.11.2015
A321 Crash: The Qatari Trace
Recently, a number of Western journals have been trying to persuade readers that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “war” in Syria is aimed at diverting public attention in Russia from the complex social and economic problems that have been caused by falling oil prices and Western sanctions against Moscow. As for the the operation that allowed thousands […]
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21.10.2015
Qatar is Caught in the Middle of Yet Another International Scandal
The former Prime Minister of Qatar Hamad bin Jassim has been caught at the center of yet another scandal, but this time around the charges pressed against him imply something more serious than “mere” corruption. The British court has recently opened a case against him for alleged torture of a British citizen. This information was […]
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11.05.2015
Terrorism Remains Pakistan’s Chief Problem
Despite the increased efforts of the government, the army and the law enforcement agencies of Pakistan, innovated methods for combating terrorist and extremist groups, the problem of terrorism remains a major threat to the stability of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The high level of terrorist activity hardly decreases. In this regard, Pakistan is second […]
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07.05.2015
Complicated Domestic Situation in Pakistan
Despite recent efforts from Pakistani authorities towards stabilizing their domestic political situation, the reigning atmosphere there remains unstable and can at any given time transform into the next crisis, in which military intervention will be inevitable. Confrontations resume in ruling circles, strongly influenced by feudal and tribal institutions, and the question of who assumes the […]
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16.04.2015
The Struggle for Yemen Rages On
The so-called international community which is allegedly united by the UN continues to demonstrate utter and complete impotency in the face of the unfolding tragedy in the south of the Arabian Peninsula, where a total of 23 million people in Yemen continue to face the harsh realities of a full-scale humanitarian catastrophe. This crisis was […]
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06.04.2015
Iran Nuclear Agreement: What Comes Around…
Once the initial euphoria over a successful conclusion of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program has worn off, more realistic or even outright pessimistic assessments started appearing among the international experts both on the content of the agreement and its future. Gradually it became clear that certain parties at the negotiations don’t believe that the process […]
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20.12.2014
Qatar’s Interests in the Russian Economy
Apparently, the Qatari sheikhs have no idea that Russia is not the Upper Volta, studded with missiles, as the United States once called us, but a great power, including in terms of economics, natural resources, oil and gas. And to think that under the current difficult conditions of sanctions, Russian companies can be bought on […]
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12.12.2014
Is Qatar Attacking Russia?
The Qatari newspaper Al Raya which is close to the family of Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and expresses the official viewpoint of Qatar ran a story on December 1 under the headline “Syria: the seventh Muslim district of Russia” by Mahmud Zaaluk. The article offers a curious view on Moscow’s Middle East policy. […]