Monday , September 21 2026

Tag Archives: Natural Gas

Natural gas, corridors, and security: Why Turkey wants Egypt in the Mecca Pact

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (5th L), Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (C) and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (5th R) pose for a family photo after signing a trilateral joint defense agreement in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on August 7, 2026. [TUR Presidency /Murat Cetinmuhurdar – Anadolu Agency]

The Eastern Mediterranean’s importance is often measured by its gas discoveries, but reserves acquire strategic value only when they can reach consumers. Egypt’s Zohr, Israel’s Tamar and Leviathan, and Cyprus’s Aphrodite, Glaucus and Cronos have given the basin a substantial resource base. Yet Egypt occupies the pivotal position because its Idku …

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Is the United Arab Emirates’ Iran Trade Freeze Economic Shock or Strategic Pivot?

Workers load a ship in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.Shutterstock

Enforcement Will Test Abu Dhabi’s Appetite to Absorb Domestic Costs While Pressuring Tehran On August 19, 2026, the United Arab Emirates announced it had stopped “all trade, commercial exchanges and financial transactions” with Iran “until further notice.” But the Foreign Ministry did not cite a new statute, cabinet resolution, sanctions list or …

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Chokepoints of power: Hormuz, Bab el-Mandeb, and the new corridor wars

The Bab al-Mandeb Strait. [Photo/AA]

The concept of “corridor wars” describes intensifying competition among major powers over critical trade, energy, and transit routes in an era of weaponized interdependence. Unlike traditional territorial conflicts, these struggles center on controlling, securing, bypassing, or disrupting chokepoints: narrow maritime passages and overland links through which global commerce flows. Key arenas include …

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NATO 3.0 and energy security: Rebalancing transatlantic defence in Ankara

A view of the ATO Congresium international convention and exhibition center, where a part of 36th NATO Heads of State and Government Summit will be held in Ankara, Turkiye, on July 07, 2026. [Akın Çeliktaş – Anadolu Agency]

The 2026 NATO Summit opens today, 7th July, in Ankara, at a critical moment for the Alliance as Russia’s war in Ukraine, pressure on European defense systems, and the U.S. strategic pivot toward the Indo-Pacific intensify debates over transatlantic burden-sharing. The emerging “NATO 3.0” framework would shift greater responsibility for conventional defense, …

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