Swedish

December 20, 2024 | |

‘Crisis of Confidence’: Sweden Eliminates UNRWA Funding Despite Nearly Doubling Gaza Aid for 2025 

UNRWA Cut Out of Receiving Aid: Sweden announced on December 20 that it would stop funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) — the UN agency solely dedicated...

September 27, 2024 | Tzvi Kahn |

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...

July 24, 2024 | |

New UN Report Denounces Iran’s Genocide in the 1980s

Latest Developments Iran committed crimes against humanity and genocide when it executed thousands of dissidents in 1981-1982 and 1988, a new United Nations report released on July 22 declared. Authored...

May 19, 2024 | Seth J. Frantzman |

Iran’s Raisi joins long list of political leaders involved in mysterious crashes

It isn't expected that presidents should go missing or be involved in crashes. However, historically, a number of important political and military leaders have met their end in crashes.

October 22, 2023 | Sinan Ciddi |

Erdogan’s Damning Response to the Hamas Attacks

Turkey’s president is widening the gulf between Ankara and her Western allies and partners.

September 21, 2023 | Sinan Ciddi |

Mr. Erdoğan in New York: A Transactional Foreign Policy Should be Repaid in Kind

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is in New York this week for the UN General Assembly and side meetings with world leaders. Before going, he voiced his frustration with the Biden administration’s...

September 7, 2023 | |

Iran’s Abduction of EU Diplomat Adds to Troubling Trend of Hostage Taking

Latest Developments European Union officials confirmed reports on September 5 that Iran abducted a Swedish EU employee last year. According to The New York Times, Iranian authorities detained Johan...

August 1, 2023 | David May, Melissa Sacks

Dutch Authorities Catch Hamas Financier Red-Handed

Burying their heads in the sand is not an option for Europeans.

July 27, 2023 | Sinan Ciddi |

Turkey is becoming a major hub for cocaine trafficking to Europe

Ankara’s reputation for smuggling is not new, and its portfolio in facilitating the free flow of illicit goods is growing to include drugs. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Turkey...

July 26, 2023 | Hussain Abdul-Hussain |

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...

July 21, 2023 | Sinan Ciddi |

Black Sea Grain Deal Is Dead, Highlighting Turkey’s Strategic Relevance

Shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, Turkey along with the United Nations brokered a deal to allow the shipment of Ukrainian grain, so that it could be sold on world markets. This...

July 20, 2023 | Sinan Ciddi |

Turkey is granting citizenship to international criminals 

The reelection of Recep Tayyip Erdogan as Turkey’s president is resurfacing the question of whether Turkey is reanchoring itself in the Western alliance. Nothing could be further...

July 17, 2023 | Eric S. Edelman |

Biden at the NATO Summit in Vilnius: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

When President Joe Biden entered office he was quick to declare that “America is back.”  After his predecessor routinely expressed low regard for America’s European allies, Biden declared that...

July 14, 2023 | Sinan Ciddi |

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.

June 9, 2023 | Sinan Ciddi |

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...

March 22, 2023 | |

Nations Pledge $1 Billion of Post-Quake Assistance for Syria Despite History of Aid Theft

Latest Developments At a conference on Monday in Brussels, donor states pledged an additional $1 billion of humanitarian aid to help Syrians recover from a February 6 earthquake that took thousands of lives....

March 20, 2023 | |

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...

January 25, 2023 | |

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.

January 9, 2023 | Sinan Ciddi |

‘Enough Is Enough’: What Blinken Should Tell Turkey’s Cavusoglu

If Washington is going to listen to Turkey’s demands, it is incumbent upon Ankara to once and for all act like an ally.

July 20, 2022 | Bradley Bowman, Ryan Brobst, Jack Sullivan, John Hardie

Finland and Sweden in NATO are strategic assets, not liabilities

In the two weeks since ambassadors from all NATO member states signed the accession protocols for Finland and Sweden to join the alliance, approximately half of the member countries have now ratified the...