Russia: What Mediating in Libya Could Cost Medvedev

On April 5, a little-known Russian Senator and diplomat, Mikhail Margelov, published an article called “The Arab World Is Changing,” in which he argued that Russia is well-placed to act as mediator in the war in Libya, but it should think hard about the political risks. “We have too much going on in our own country,” he wrote

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Medvedev’s Improbable Mission: Mediating Peace with Gaddafi

On Thursday, as NATO war planes prepared fresh strikes against the compound of Muammar Gaddafi, his prime minister, Baghdadi al-Mahmudi, put in an urgent call to Moscow. After months of civil war, he said, Gaddafi was ready to negotiate a ceasefire and he needed Russia to mediate the talks

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Did Obama’s Speech Give Syria’s Assad a Breather?

The late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat used to be called “the great survivor.” Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad may be succeeding to the title. Many observers had expected Barack Obama to use a much-anticipated speech on the Middle East to call for Assad to step down, much as Washington has demanded that Muammar Gaddafi relinquish power in Libya.

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Indicting Gaddafi for War Crimes: Will It Help or Hurt?

Muammar Gaddafi and his family could be hit with war-crimes indictments within the coming weeks for his brutal crackdown against unarmed protesters in eastern Libya last February, turning him and his top officials into international fugitives — and probably burying any hope of a ceasefire deal or an arrangement for quiet exile for Gaddafi and his family as a way of ending the war. As if to emphasize the regime’s defiance on Wednesday, Gaddafi loyalists shelled the rebel port of Misratah where an international aid ship had docked, reportedly killing four

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