World Press on Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus (January 27, 2012)

The Washington Post reported that crude prices were steady Friday amid a weaker U.S. dollar and expectations that Europe will be able to find oil elsewhere if Iran makes good on its threat to immediately halt exports to the region. Benchmark crude for March delivery was down 12 cents at $99.59 a barrel at late afternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 30 cents to finish at $99.70 per barrel on the Nymex on Thursday. Brent crude for March delivery was down 4 cents at $110.76 on the ICE Futures Exchange in London. The latest threat from Iran follows a European Union decision to enforce an oil embargo against Iran starting this summer because of Iran’s secretive nuclear program.

The same agency reported that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Friday the world must quickly stop Iran from reaching the point where even a “surgical” military strike could not block it from obtaining nuclear weapons. Amid fears that Israel is nearing a decision to attack Iran’s nuclear program, Barak said tougher international sanctions are needed against Tehran’s oil and banks so that “we all will know early enough whether the Iranians are ready to give up their nuclear weapons program.” “We are determined to prevent Iran from turning nuclear. And even the American president and opinion leaders have said that no option should be removed from the table and Iran should be blocked from turning nuclear,” Barak told reporters during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. “It seems to us to be urgent, because the Iranians are deliberately drifting into what we call an immunity zone where practically no surgical operation could block them,” he said.

The Los Angeles Times published the article headlined “Crisis takes toll on Syria economy.” It says that Months of unrest, increasing international sanctions and questionable fiscal policies — as Syria lurches toward outright civil warfare — are taking a heavy toll on the nation's economy. Yet it remains unclear what effect this will have on President Bashar Assad’s grip on power. Frustration is mounting among the business elite and the merchant class — key supporters of Assad since he took power in 2000 — particularly in Damascus and in Aleppo, the country's second city. Some have begun quietly donating money to opposition groups for medicine, food and blankets in neighborhoods besieged by security forces — "playing for the future," as one Damascus businessman put it.

The Turkish information agency Hurriyet reported that the Turkish government has devised an ambitious road map for the country’s multiple satellite programs through 2020. According to the road map, Turkey will this year launch the Göktürk II, an electro optical reconnaissance and observation satellite. Göktürk I as well as Türksat 4A, a communications satellite, will be launched in 2013. Türksat 4B will be launched in 2014 and Türksat 4R in 2015 along with the Göktürk III, a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) reconnaissance and observation satellite. 2016 will see an infrared early warning satellite sent into orbit, along with the Türksat 5A communications satellite. In 2017, Türksat 5B and a second infrared satellite will be launched. The electro optical Göktürk IV and two more infrared satellites will be put in orbit in 2018, and yet two more infrared satellites will be launched in 2019. In 2020 Turkey will launch its second SAR Göktürk V.