CIAO DATE: 01/2015
Volume: 18, Issue: 3
Fall 2014
MERIA SPECIAL REPORT: DID ISIS USE CHEMICAL WEAPONS AGAINST THE KURDS IN KOBANI? (PDF)
Jonathan Spyer
The fate of Kobani city now hangs in the balance, as around 9000 fighters of the Islamic State organization close in on the Kurdish held area. The current IS assault on the Kobani enclave was not the first attempt by the jihadis to destroy the Kurdish-controlled area.
The Kobani enclave, most of which is now in the hands of the IS, at one time extended to Tel Abyad in the east, and Jarabulus in the west. It constituted a major hindrance to the desire of the jihadis to maintain free passage for their fighters from Raqqa city up to the Turkish border and westwards towards the front lines in Aleppo province. IS has therefore long sought to destroy it.
Prior to the current campaign, the most serious (but unsuccessful) attempt to conquer Kobani came in July 2014, shortly following the dramatic IS advance into Iraq.
SUNNI OPPOSITION TO THE ISLAMIC STATE (PDF)
Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi
Spearheaded by the Islamic State (IS), a renewed Sunni Arab insurgency in Iraq has wrestled control of most localities in the Anbar, Ninawa, Salah ad-Din and Kirkuk governorates away from the central government over the course of 2014. While the question of exactly who controls what is still a matter of debate, it has become clear that IS has asserted its own authority at the expense of other factions in the main cities and towns, including Mosul, Tikrit and Fallujah. IS's conduct--destroying shrines, detaining and killing opponents--has provoked resentment among locals, in some cases leading to the creation of new groups to take up arms against IS.
TEN YEARS LATER: WHO WON THE IRAQ WAR, THE US OR CHINA?
Mordechai Chaziza
Many news sources have announced that the answer to the question of who won the Iraq war is
simple: the People's Republic of China. Was China the real winner? If so, in what ways? This study
analyzes the question of who won the Iraq War in broader terms, both in retrospect and looking
forward. It separates myth from reality and takes a long, hard look at the war's impact, both shortand
long-term, on the economic and strategic interests of China and the U.S.
THE SOUTH CAUCASUS: OBAMA'S FAILED RUSSIA "RESET" AND THE PUTIN DOCTRINE IN PRACTICE
Mahir Khalifa-Zadeh
Since 2009, under President Barack Obama, the U.S. has pursued a "Russian reset" policy, promising a fresh start to previously tense relations. Yet this policy has failed to improve American interests, particularly in the South Caucasus region, which is strategically important for both Israeli and U.S. policy towards the greater Middle East and the post-Soviet space. This article examines the priorities of both the Obama administration and President Vladimir Putin's doctrine and evaluates the implications of the Crimean crisis for the South Caucasus. Finally, it demonstrates that in light of this failure, new U.S. initiatives are urgently needed to enforce peace along international borders and America's strategic interests in the South Caucasus and throughout Central Asia.
THE NEW GLOBAL ANTISEMITISM: IMPLICATIONS FROM THE RECENT ADL-100 DATA
Arno Tausch
At just the right moment in global history, the Anti-Defamation League1 of the B'nai Brith organization2 has released new data on antisemitism in over 100 countries. 3 This data is based on solid opinion surveys and for the first time includes large parts of the Muslim world, not only Western countries.4 This article presents these data with rankings and maps and then examines some of the most important implications of these data, including possible drivers of contemporary antisemitism, in understandable, everyday language. The goal of this statistical analysis was to ascertain whether antisemitic attitudes indeed coincide with structural characteristics or policies of nations around the globe or opinion structures on other issues.
POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT AND DEFENSE DIPLOMACY BETWEEN INDIA AND ISRAEL: POST-9/11 AND BEYOND
HRIDAY CH. SARMA
Judging from contemporary internal and external developments, India and Israel-currently strategic partners-are poised to grow into a partnership of strategic allies within the international arena in the near future. This article studies the relationship between India and Israel, focusing on politics and defense, from 9/11 to the present day. It gives a brief overview of the historical relationship between India and Israel, especially in the political and military realms, establishing that relationship within a continuous trajectory which has led to the current flurry of bilateral engagements.