NY man accused of shipping missile-grade metal to Iran via Turkey

The feds arrested the CEO of a metal services company in New York Tuesday on charges of exporting a high-tech missile-grade metallic powder to Iran secretly through Turkey. Erdal Kuyumcu, 44, helped conspire to obtain more than 1,000 pounds of the cobalt-nickel material used in missile production, nuclear activity and the aerospace industry, federal investigators claim. They […]

Could Turkey implode?

Turkey, an erstwhile U.S. ally long hailed as a bastion of secular democracy in the Muslim world, could be spiraling towards all-out civil war and potential dissolution as conflicts between Turkish security forces and Kurds and other ethnic minorities continue to escalate. These conflicts have been exacerbated by the catastrophic war in neighboring Syria, which has […]

RSAF Deploys Fighter Jets from Saudi Arabia to Turkey

Editor’s Note: Although the news articles don’t specifically state which aircraft have deployed, it is very likely the jets are of either the F-15S or Eurofighter Typhoon variety. What’s noteworthy isn’t so much the hardware itself, rather the fact the RSAF has moved its aircraft closer to the fight in an effort to demonstrate its commitment. The technology […]

Radioactive material has gone missing in Iraq

Reuters just reported that radioactive material, Ir-192, was stolen last November from a facility in southern Basra. The IAEA said the missing “Ir-192 radioactive source in a shielding container” was classified as a Category 2 radioactive substance that, if not managed properly, could be fatal to someone exposed for a period of hours to days.—NBC […]

Terror attack targets military personnel in Turkey

An explosion targeting Turkish military buses carrying personnel killed at least 28 people and wounded 61 others in the capital city of Ankara Wednesday, in what government officials called an intricately planned act of terror. The U.S. Embassy in Ankara activated “duck and cover” following the nearby explosion, a U.S. government source told Fox News. […]

Saudi, Turkish ground operation planning begins in earnest

DUBAI and ANKARA — Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Feb. 13 that Turkey and Saudi Arabia may join forces for ground operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL) in Syria. Although a senior Saudi military official said the Royal Saudi Air Force deployed fighter jets to the Incirlik Air Base in […]

Turkish President: America let the Middle East turn into “a sea of blood”

Turkey is a NATO member — and so, by treaty, an American ally. Yet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sure didn’t sound like one on during a Thursday: He blamed the United States for, among other things, turning the Middle East into “a sea of blood.” This all comes back to a big disagreement over one […]

Report: Turkey detains Three Russians in Raid Aimed at ISIS

Turkey’s state-run news agency says police in the Mediterranean city of Antalya have detained three Russian nationals in a raid on suspected Islamic State militants. The Anadolu Agency said anti-terrorism police conducted the raids on Wednesday, a day after an ISIS suicide bomber detonated a bomb in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district, killing 10 foreigners, most of them […]

Understanding the Lure of Young People to Join ISIS

What is the appeal about joining an Islamic extremist organization such as ISIS or al Qaida if you live outside of the Middle East? Friends and family members of those that travel to Syria and other Middle Eastern nations to train with ISIS or al Qaida seems shocked that their family member would be capable of […]