Briefing Archive

Since shortly before the inception of the Turkish Republic, in 1923, a journalist has been murdered on average every 1.5 years in Turkey, columnist Oktay Eksi recently lamented in the Hurriyet newspaper. In the last 15 years alone, according to a recent report of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, “18 Turkish journalists have been killed for their work, making it the deadliest country in the world for journalists.” Like a blow from an axe, the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink two weeks ago has cut yet another deep gash into Turkey’s already embattled democratization and intellectual freedom. […]

Despite flat oil exports and a struggling economy, Iraq has embarked on a comprehensive program to re-arm its embattled security forces. The country is buying American patrol planes, Italian naval vessels, Russian helicopters and armored vehicles co-produced by American and British firms. The new equipment is utilitarian stuff — optimized for patrols in and over Iraq’s teeming cities and on its smuggler-infested waters rather than for attacks on external foes — and reflects the complete inward focus of Iraq’s military. But the purchases do little to solve the forces’ nearly complete lack of logistics capability. In early January, working through […]

On Jan. 21, 2007, German Chancellor Angela Merkel conferred with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi. Merkel has met with Putin six times since replacing Gerhard Schroeder as head of the German government in November 2005. This latest meeting highlighted the transformation of the German-Russian relationship, particularly in the area of energy. The Sochi encounter was the first meeting between Merkel and Putin since Germany assumed the presidency of both the European Union and the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations. With the expected departure from power of both Britain’s Tony Blair and France’s […]