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The Turkish-Israeli Alliance Over
Prof. Barry Rubin - 11/4/2009
The Turkey-Israel alliance is over. After two decades plus of close cooperation, the Turkish government is no longer interested in maintaining close cooperation with Israel nor is it—for all practical purposes—willing to do anything much to maintain its good relations with Israel.

Seven Concepts in Derivatives
Sam Vaknin, Ph.D. - 11/3/2009
The implosion of the markets in some complex derivatives in 2007-9 drew attention to this obscure corner of the financial realm. Derivatives are nothing new. They consist of the transfer of risk to third parties and the creation of a strong correlation or linkage between the prices of one or more underlying assets and the derivative contract or instrument itself. Thus, whenever guarantors sign on a loan or credit agreement, they, in effect, are creating a derivative contract. Similarly, insurance policies can be construed as derivatives as well as options, futures, and forward contracts.

Dow-Jones: On the Way to 4800
Sam Vaknin, Ph.D. - 11/3/2009
A prediction I made in February 2009 (when the Dow-Jones was hurtling towards 6500) came true. In an article dated February 22, 2009 and titled "The Next 18 Months: Recession, False Recovery, Depression", I wrote:

Hillary Clinton Announces that Palestinians are the Obstacles to Peace
Prof. Barry Rubin - 11/3/2009
Yesterday I discussed the significance of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s praise for Israel’s policy during her trip to Jerusalem, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had offered unprecedented concessions to get peace talks started again.

America on the Children's Crusade
Prof. Barry Rubin - 11/3/2009
A friend of mine who used to be a high-ranking U.S. government official made a very interesting remark: Intelligence does not settle disputes in government, theories do. In other words, no matter how badly an enemy acts, you can interpret it as their building up bargaining chips to make a deal. They are hitting you to force you to offer them a good bargain.

Opportunities for Decentralization in Morocco
Yossef Ben-Meir, PhD - 11/1/2009
King Mohammed VI of Morocco will deliver a highly anticipated speech this November 6th--the anniversary of the Green March of 1975 when 350,000 unarmed Moroccans crossed into the Western Sahara. On this same occasion last year, Morocco’s King presented his “roadmap” to decentralize “all parts of the Kingdom, especially the Moroccan Sahara region” and “usher in a complete change from rigid centralized management.” The roadmap expands upon the Kingdom’s 2007 proposal to the United Nations Security Council for a final settlement of the Western Saharan conflict. Morocco proposes to build the po...

Future of Japan-US Relations
Rajaram Panda, Ph.D. - 11/1/2009
The Japan-US security alliance that has remained as the lynchpin of the East Asian security architecture since the World War II is likely to undergo some change under the DPJ-led government of Yukio Hatoyama. Even before Hatoyama won the elections held on 30 August, his views expressed in an op-ed article published in the New York Times in which he spoke of reviewing Japan’s alliance relationships with the US with a more independent foreign policy created a sensation amongst policy analysts both in Japan and in the US as also in other Asian capitals. Hatoyama pledged to build “an alliance on a...

Listen and you can hear the chains of religious tyranny torn asunder
Shahriar Kia - 11/1/2009
The recent uprising of the Iranian people following sham elections in Iran, the formidable confrontation between the Iranian people and its Resistance on the one hand and the Iranian regime on the other, as well as the recent attacks against the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran aimed at destroying their camp in northern Iraq and extraditing its residents to Iran highlighted three major realities more than ever:

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