Israeli forces pounded Gaza on Wednesday, meeting stiff resistance from Hamas Islamists and sending thousands of residents fleeing, as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on a visit to Israel ceasefire talks had made some progress.

• July 23, 2014

Insights into Turkish Domestic and International Politics between 16 May – 16 July 2014
By John VanPool, EGF Turkey and Black Sea Regional Analyst

Key Points:

• Iraq implodes as the Islamic State (IS, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or alternatively the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) allies with Iraqi Sunnis to overtake large swaths of the country’s northwest, including the city of Mosul. Turkish hostages are taken in the city, and the Kurdish Regional Government of Iraq halts IS’s march towards oil-rich Kirkuk.
• Turkey balks at an independent Kurdistan, but in the long run, a stable and secular Kurdish state might become a better alternative to IS on its borders.
• The CHP and MHP nominate religiously conservative Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu as their presidential candidate, while the Kurdish HDP’s Selahattin Demirtas may play kingmaker if Prime Minister Erdogan enters a runoff in the August election.
• Parliament passes groundbreaking law moving the PKK peace talks forward, just in time for the presidential election.
• The Central Bank continues to resist demands by the prime minister to sharply cut interest rates.

• July 23, 2014

President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday Russia would use its influence with separatists in east Ukraine to allow a full investigation into the downing of a Malaysian airliner, but said the West must put pressure on Kiev to end hostilities.

• July 22, 2014

Israel pounded targets across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, saying no ceasefire was near as top U.S. and U.N. diplomats pursued talks on halting fighting that has claimed more than 600 lives.

• July 22, 2014

European Union foreign ministers threatened Russia on Tuesday with harsher sanctions over Ukraine, but tougher talk may not be matched by much action after France's president signaled the disputed delivery of a warship to Moscow would go ahead.

• July 22, 2014

Russia's Severstal CHMF.MM said it would sell two U.S. steel plants for $2.3 billion, withdrawing from the U.S. market at a time of rising tension between Russia and the West and turning its focus to its domestic business.

• July 21, 2014

For all the tough talk, Europe is unlikely to punish Russia over last week's downing of an airliner over Ukraine beyond speeding up the imposition of already agreed individual sanctions when the bloc's foreign ministers meet on Tuesday.

• July 21, 2014

The European Union should impose harder-hitting sanctions on Russia after the downing of a Malaysian airliner in Ukraine, British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday, advocating an EU ban on future sales of military equipment to Moscow.

• July 21, 2014