finance ministry

November 2, 2024 | Cleo Paskal |

Palau is under attack from PRC

There is a spike in activity now because China sees Palau’s 5 November election as an opportunity to put in place representatives that are more in line with its ambitions.

October 30, 2024 | Peter Doran |

Putin’s cash crunch

It’s time for Europe and the US to tighten the financial screws on Russia and accelerate an end to the war.

May 27, 2022 | John Hardie |

Top Russian Bank Launches Apparent Attempt to Evade Sanctions

Russian media reported last week that state-owned Sberbank, the country’s largest financial institution, had sold some of its assets to an obscure company established in March. The sale likely reflects...

September 16, 2021 | Tony Badran |

Lebanon’s New Hezbollah Government

After a year of political bickering among Lebanon’s sectarian chieftains, Hezbollah determined that the time had come for a new government to arise. By now, it should be clear to all observers that...

July 21, 2021 | Tony Badran |

Hariri’s Departure Exposes Contradictions of U.S. Policy Toward Lebanon

After nine months of negotiations against the backdrop of a financial meltdown, Saad Hariri has failed to form a new government in Lebanon and has stepped down as prime minister-designate. Hariri’s exit...

April 8, 2021 | Jacob Nagel, Shachar Shohat

Iron Dome developers set the record straight on its evolution

Marking 10 years since Iron Dome’s first operational interception, leading figures in developing the missile defense system set the record straight on its evolution

March 24, 2021 | Orde Kittrie, Varsha Koduvayur

Gulf-Israeli Economic Cooperation Can Benefit the Palestinians

Palestinians may be the unexpected beneficiaries of Israel’s improving relations with the Arab world.

February 12, 2021 | Bradley Bowman, Jacob Nagel

Taking a closer look at Israel’s weapons wish list

Eyeing Iran and its terrorist proxies in Syria and Lebanon, Israel’s Cabinet approved on Feb. 7 an Israeli Air Force request to use U.S. foreign military financing and loans to fund approximately $9...

December 8, 2020 | Tony Badran |

Does The US Need A Lebanon Policy?

The season of offering advice to the next administration is upon us once more. When it comes to American policy toward Lebanon, the purveyors of advice are faced with two key questions. The first question...

May 27, 2020 | Julia Schulman |

Israel Awards Desalination Plant Construction to Domestic Firm Over China

Israel announced this week that it is awarding a $1.5 billion bid to build the world’s largest desalination plant to Israel’s IDE Technologies. Reports indicate that IDE Technologies offered to complete...

April 20, 2020 | Jacob Nagel |

Covid-19 Management and Decision-Making in Israel

There is an old joke that if you put three Israelis in a room, you will get more than ten opinions.  Due to social distancing, this is currently impossible. But the Israelis still have more than ten opinions...

November 5, 2019 | John Hannah, Annie Fixler

Israel Acts to Counter Chinese Corporate Influence

Israel’s caretaker government announced the formation of a new advisory committee last week to review foreign investment in critical sectors of the economy. After months of debate, Israel has taken an...

April 2, 2018 | Benjamin Weinthal |

Austrian bank in Iran freezes business fearing U.S. sanctions

Austria’s Oberbank, which, as a result of the 2015 nuclear deal became the first European bank to enter Iran’s financial system, announced it has not moved forward with business trans...

January 31, 2018 | Boris Zilberman

How to Make Russia Sanctions Bite

On Monday night, the U.S. Treasury Department issued its long-awaited report on Russian oligarchs an...

August 1, 2017 | Orde Kittrie

How U.S. Allies Undermine NATO

The U.S. spends heavily to defend Europe, yet most North Atlantic Treaty Organization members don’t spend 2% of their GDP on defense, as the alliance’s guidelines call for. Worse, man...

July 6, 2017 | Tony Badran |

Lebanon’s New Electoral Law Seeks to Preempt U.S. Sanctions on Hezbollah

Congress passed the first round of Hezbollah sanctions in late 2015. Known as the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act (HIFPA), the bill targeted banks used by the group and its membe...

December 20, 2016 | Benjamin Weinthal |

German politicians ignore bank’s BDS account

Co-written by Tamara Zieve. German politicians affiliated with the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) in southern Germany ignore the financial institution’s role in...

July 18, 2016 | Merve Tahiroglu |

Turkey’s Post-Coup Purges by the Numbers

Co-written by Yagmur Menzilcioglu A faction of the Turkish military attempted a coup d’état on Friday. Lacking support of the bulk of the armed forces, police, and...

July 13, 2016 | Aykan Erdemir |

Turkey’s Illicit Finance Trap

Co-written by Yagmur Menzilcioglu While not widely reported in the West, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım last month submitted to parliament a...

February 29, 2016 | |

Abbas’ Attacks on Lawmaker are Another Sign of Growing Autocracy

Palestinian lawmaker Najat Abu Bakr took refuge in the building of the defunct Palestinian Authority parliament on Friday after PA security services...