Alastair Crooke
United Kingdom
Former British diplomat, founder and director of the Conflicts Forum.
Materials
Opinions
Will Turkey Truly Pivot to Russia? What Now for Neo-Ottomanism?

Apparently ‘the pivot’ has already begun: the first high level meeting since the downing of the Russian military aircraft over Syria last November took place this week. The Deputy PMs of Turkey and Russia met in Moscow to lay the foundations for a later summit in August, between Presidents Putin and Erdogan in the former’s home town of St Petersburg, to set the seal on the new rapprochement.

Opinions
Vision 2030: Saudi’s ‘Great Leap Forward’
Saudi Arabia clearly needs change. Its present economic model simply is unsustainable in the wake of the collapse in the oil price, and with a young leader in control, who has, at least until now, bet the Saudi treasury, double-or-quits, on wars in Syria and Yemen, and in extravagant foreign policy gestures (Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq and Libya). And now, predictably, the western consultants, McKinsey, have been called in to rescue the kingdom from the enveloping crisis.
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