Stockholm

Time For a New Policy Toward Erdogan

Turkey and Israel held talks last Wednesday aimed at avoiding a confrontation in Syria as Ankara continues to pursue greater influence in a post-Assad Syria, including through...

U.S. Sanctions Iranian Intelligence Officials for Role in Abducting Former FBI Agent

Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence (MOI) serves as the long arm of the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism. Washington should treat it accordingly. On March 25, the U.S. Department of the Treasury...

Iran’s ties to Western organized crime networks

The US has long labeled Iran as “the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism,” yet Tehran’s ambitions extend beyond backing Shia and Sunni Islamist groups in the Middle East.

U.S. Levies Sanctions Against Swedish ‘Foxtrot’ Gang With Ties to Iran

Treasury Sanctions Foxtrot Network: The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Foxtrot Network, a Swedish transnational criminal organization...

Prominent Critic of Islam and Iran Murdered at Home in Sweden

Shot While Streaming on Social Media: A prominent free speech activist and critic of Islam known for staging public burnings of the Islamic holy book, the Quran, was murdered inside...

Central Asia in the Energy Transition

Excerpt The Central Asian region, in terms of energy, has long been known mostly for its vast endowments of oil and gas. Indeed, some of the largest new discoveries of oil anywhere in the world in the...

U.S. Should Sanction Iran’s Brutal Judge Iman Afshari

The death sentences keep coming from Branch 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court. In July, the court’s presiding judge, Iman Afshari, pronounced the dreaded verdict for Pakhshan Azizi, a prominent...

Iran’s Assassination Plots Against Jews Persist Despite the West’s Leniency on Regime

The French police recently charged a French-Algerian dual citizen and his partner for allegedly conspiring to assassinate Israelis and Jews in Paris, Munich, and Berlin — all at the behest...

Iranians Commemorate Mahsa Amini on Second Anniversary of Her Murder

The second anniversary of the killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was marked in Iran and around the world on September 16 amid a media blackout ordered by Iran’s rulers. The young...

Swedish Hostage Deal Set to Underwrite More Hostage-Taking

As part of a deal to release Swedish hostages in Iran, Stockholm freed Hamid Nouri, a former Iranian official convicted of crimes against humanity for his role in the mass execution of political prisoners...

In Prisoner Swap, Sweden Releases Iranian Official Convicted of War Crimes

Sweden released a former Iranian judiciary official on June 15 convicted of crimes against humanity in exchange for two innocent Swedish citizens imprisoned by Tehran. Stockholm...

Israel, Sweden: Iran Using Criminal Gangs for European Terror

Iran is using criminal networks as terrorist proxies in Europe, Israel and Sweden warned on May 30. Jerusalem disclosed that an investigation involving the Mossad, the Shin Bet,...

Turkey’s Parliament Ratifies Sweden’s NATO Application

Turkey’s parliament decided by a vote of 287-55 on Tuesday to ratify Sweden’s accession to NATO. Ankara had been holding up the Swedish application for 20 months, hoping to leverage it to extract concessions...

What Happens When a Quran Is Burned Demonstrates a Government’s Capacity for Liberty

Current Iraqi rage against the burning of a Quran in Sweden and in Denmark violates both liberty and Islamic teachings — and shows that freedom of expression is sometimes globally curtailed for...

Will Sweden Actually Be Admitted Into NATO?

If President Erdogan wanted to ratify Sweden’s accession, he could convene the Turkish parliament within a matter of days for a special session.

Will Erdogan Finally Ratify Sweden’s NATO Accession? No One Knows.

It is now a waiting game—and that’s how it should be.

Biden Should Demand More From Turkey Before Selling F-16s

Turkey’s elections are over, and the scramble now begins to get Turkey to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership at the alliance’s Vilnius summit. U.S. President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony...

Turkey Approves Finland’s NATO Membership

Latest Developments Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that he now supports Finland’s application for NATO membership. By contrast, Ankara, which has stalled the transatlantic alliance’s...

Erdogan Seizes on Quran Burning as New Pretext to Block Sweden’s NATO Accession

A far-right activist, Rasmus Paludan, burned a Quran in front of the Turkish Embassy in Sweden last weekend after authorities granted him permission. The event, which Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu condemned as a “hate crime,” threatens to derail Sweden’s NATO membership bid.

China’s Accelerating CEEW Campaign