ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

An energy pipeline project under consideration could help Turkey and Israel renew their partnership after years of strain . The 450-kilometer (280-mile) subsea pipeline would be the Middle East's most ambitious native pipeline, stretching from Israel's offshore Leviathan field, 130 kilometers west of Haifa, to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. The pipeline would run from a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) ship before heading northeast at an average depth of 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) along the Cypriot coastline. With a capacity of 16 billion cubic meters, the initiative has been lauded as a way to enable Turkish (and eventually European) energy diversification away from Moscow. According to energy holding firm Turcas Petrol, one of the companies to place a bid on the project, the total cost would be around $2.25 billion. In essence, the Leviathan pipeline would require an operating depth rivaled only by major international initiatives such as Medgaz, South Stream

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses members of his ruling party on April 16, 2013. (ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images) Summary An energy pipeline project under consideration could help Turkey and Israel renew their partnership after years of strain. On March 23, Israeli financial daily Globes announced that more than 10 companies had submitted bids for the tender of a proposed undersea pipeline that would export natural gas from Israel's offshore Leviathan field to southern Turkey. The statement came shortly before Today's Zaman reported a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's personal envoy for energy and security issues, David Meidan, and the chief of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization, Hakan Fidan, in which both parties reportedly agreed to work toward reopening embassies and normalizing relations, which have been fraught since the 2010 flotilla incident that left several Turks dead . Israel and Turkey currently find themse

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski (R) speaks with his counterparts from Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier (C), and France, Laurent Fabius, in Weimar, Germany, on April 1. (JENS SCHLUETER/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Russia's recent actions in Crimea and subsequent military buildup around the former Soviet periphery are yet another reminder of the security threat that Russia poses to Poland. After a NATO summit on April 1 to discuss responses to Russia's maneuvers, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called NATO's presence in Poland and the pace at which it is being increased "unsatisfactory." Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski went further, calling for NATO to station 10,000 troops in Poland. But Warsaw faces the same constraints it has long experienced in getting the support from NATO to counter the Russian threat, not least of which is a fundamental disagreement among NATO members over how to respond to Russia. Analysis The latest NATO summit was the first si

U.S. President Barack Obama talks to the press about the April 2 shooting incident at Fort Hood. (JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images) Summary At least one gunman is reported to have opened fire at the Fort Hood military post in Killeen, Texas, killing three people and wounding as many as 14, over a reported dispute with another soldier. A Stratfor source reports that an individual -- believed to be the shooter, 34-year-old Ivan Lopez -- has been found dead, the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It is believed that the initial shooting incident occurred at a motor pool located near the Medical Brigade Building. Analysis As with any breaking event, preliminary reports may well be inaccurate and even conflicting . Eyewitnesses identified a white man wearing an Army Combat Uniform driving a gray Toyota and carrying a .45 caliber handgun. The base has been locked down following the incident, which triggered an attack alarm. All personnel were advised to minimize movement and seek hard co

By Scott Stewart There has been some media speculation recently about the possibility of terrorist groups targeting the food supply. This is a topic that has come up repeatedly in the years since 9/11. From time to time, the possibility of such an attack creates a bit of concern among the public and especially among organizations focused on food issues, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or agricultural trade groups. However, despite the potentially grave consequences of an attack against the food supply -- and concerns raised by these consequences -- such attacks are in fact quite rare. There are good reasons for this lack of attacks against the food supply. Types of Attacks Targeting Food Supplies At the most basic level, threats to a country's food supply can come in two general forms: attacks designed to create famine and attacks designed to directly poison people. Attacks designed to create famine are the types of attacks most frequently discussed in the press. Thi

By George Friedman During the Cold War, U.S. secretaries of state and Soviet foreign ministers routinely negotiated the outcome of crises and the fate of countries. It has been a long time since such talks have occurred, but last week a feeling of deja vu overcame me. Americans and Russians negotiated over everyone's head to find a way to defuse the crisis in Ukraine and, in the course of that, shape its fate. During the talks, U.S. President Barack Obama made it clear that Washington has no intention of expanding NATO into either Ukraine or Georgia. The Russians have stated that they have no intention of any further military operations in Ukraine. Conversations between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry have been extensive and ongoing. For different reasons, neither side wants the crisis to continue, and each has a different read on the situation. The Russian Perspective The Russians are convinced that the uprising in Kiev was fomented b

Today, Japan saw its first national consumption tax hike since 1997, with the rate rising from 5 percent to 8 percent. For more than a decade, Japan's relatively low consumer taxes have been seen as a likely target for raising rates to increase tax revenue and begin dealing with Japan's high levels of national debt. But raising the tax rate has not entirely gone without controversy or criticism. Some have feared a drop in consumer spending and a heavier burden on Japan's expanding aging population, pointing to how the 1997 tax hike contributed to the country's return to recession. The short-term effect is estimated to be about 6 trillion yen ($58 billion), or 1.2 percent of gross domestic product, according to Morgan Stanley. Tokyo hopes that stimulus measures designed to blunt the impact on select groups will help lessen the sting of the increase. Though Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe feared the tax hike would harm his economic agenda, often referred to as Abenomic

(From L-R) Ukrainian United Democratic Alliance for Reform leader Vitali Klitschko and Ukrainian parliament members Andriy Shevchenko and Petro Poroshenko in London on March 26. (CARL COURT/AFP/Getty Images) Summary At Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on March 30 in Paris, the Russian delegation demanded that Ukraine institute a federal system to empower its regions and remain neutral in its alliance systems. A day earlier, Vitali Klitschko, a boxer-turned-politician and frontrunner in Ukraine's presidential race, withdrew his candidacy and endorsed Petro Poroshenko, a pro-Western oligarch. While high-level negotiations between the United States and Russia are shaping a possible compromise in Ukraine , and Klitschko's endorsement of Poroshenko has redefined the country's presidential race, Ukraine's future hinges largely on the unity and stability of its interim government. Analysis Despite its interim statu