JERUSALEM — Ever since this June’s open warfare between rival Palestinians of Fatah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the accusations, recriminations, smears and hoaxes have been flying wildly in the Palestinian Territories. In addition to the violence that still pits supporters of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, against followers of the more secular Fatah, the parties have launched elaborate publicity campaigns to bolster their own side and discredit the other in the eyes of fellow Palestinians and the rest of the world. One of the hoaxes, designed to make Fatah look more reliable to the West and to Israel, [...]
According to statements made Sept. 27 by the Turkish Minister of Energy Hilmi Güler, Ankara and Tehran plan to sign an accord this month on the exploitation of the natural gas reserves of South Pars on the southern Iranian coast. In a preliminary agreement concluded in July, it had already been agreed that Turkey’s state-controlled oil company would invest some $3 billion over seven years in the construction of operating equipment. In addition, Turkish and Iranian enterprises are supposed to develop joint ventures for the transport of the gas by way of a pipeline system that will extend to eastern [...]
On Sept. 28, Belarussian Defense Minister Leonid Maltsev repeated his government’s warning that U.S. plans to deploy ballistic missile defense (BMD) systems in Poland and the Czech Republic could have “unpredictable consequences” for Eurasian security. Maltsev’s comments, delivered at a press conference after a meeting of the defense ministers of the member states of the Russian-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, have revived concerns that Russia might place nuclear weapons in Belarus as a countermeasure to the U.S. BMD deployments. Last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insisted that his government had no plans to deploy [...]
