نشریه مطالعات راهبردی جهان اسلام
سال بیستم شماره 3 (پیاپی 79، پاییز 1398)

Before his martyrdom of "Qassem Suleimani”, he was in the spotlight and his name was "the most prolific" in the political, social, security and media circles. In the meantime, many were trying to figure out his personality and monitor his behavior and speech, and many were trying to counteract the effects of his activities. The group also tried hard to understand him and his thoughts and behavior. Many of these two groups succeeded, and many failed to understand much about him and his thoughts and goals.
After her miraculous martyrdom, many of her closest relatives and those who had been with him for many years and sincerely helped him also confessed that they had little understanding of him. Commander Haj Qasim Suleimani was at the center of the attention of friends and foes, his lovers were entertained most exquisitely and repeatedly re-debated and reassessed by his enemies, and of course, this evaluation and recovery will continue for years. Although the position of Suleiman among the great nation that arose from among them and was often welcomed by the "Red Death" was clear, his tens of millions of funerals were considered a "great surprise". His funeral crossed every boundary, and, he imposed his respect on everyone. They are not less whom he had a "fundamental difference" in his beliefs, actions, and attachments, but stood up in his honor and confessed his greatness.

Over the last few years, there have been developments in the West Asian region that have more or less shared features in their nature. Although events of North Africa like developments of Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia have been called with the title of Revolution, Movement, and Arab Spring they do not seem to have the necessary characteristics to categorize them into a political and social movement. In other words, each of these developments led to dictatorship, civil war, and internal rivalries. On the other hand, there have been other developments in West Asia, including Iraq, Lebanon, and Iran, which their common reason has been to protest economic problems. In fact, because of the economic problems in these countries, we witnessed street protests in the major cities of these countries. Protests in these countries were sporadic, unintended, and in some cases with the specific program but without the leadership of any individual, group, or guiding thought. The present paper examines the extent to which recent developments in West Asia can be analyzed in terms of social and political movements.

In recent years, Russian foreign policy has shown the use of various tools to achieve Moscow's goals and objectives. Russian foreign policy is based on pragmatism, economic efficiency and the priority of national goals and the Kremlin leaders have repeatedly pointed to the need to use different sources of power and methods to achieve their goals. Vladimir Putin's independent foreign policies on the one hand greatly have enhanced Russia's position in the international system and on the other hand increased the confrontation between Moscow and the West. However, Russia's return to the international environment after the disordered conditions of the 1990s has also faced threats and restrictions. The results of the assessments of this article show that the persistence of rivalry with the West, the economic weaknesses and the future management of foreign policy after Putin's presence in power are among the issues that could affect Russia's foreign relations in the coming years.

In recent years, the AKP's public power has declined. The party won the parliamentary and presidential elections by a slight difference and lost the mayoral elections in major cities to its rivals. Besides, split within the party is also an important issue.
As a result of the pressure of the Kemalist-backed regime and institutions, we saw the emergence of divisions from the former Islamist parties in Turkey such as the parties of Fazilet, Refah, and Sa’adat. There is a possibility of the formation of new splinter parties among the disgruntled and ousted members of the AKP. Specifically, there have long been rumors in Turkey that former Turkish President Abdullah Gul, along with former friends of Erdogan and several former ministers and AKP members, is planning to launch a new party. To better understand the political process in Turkey, it is necessary to examine the performance of the AKP and its prospects.

The international legal system, as an unorganized legal system, faces many difficulties in ensuring it's implementing its rules. Due to the lack of institutional mechanisms to counter and punish violations of international law, the international law system recognizes the right of each state to resort to countermeasures to counter violate international obligations and to compensate for damages.
The use of economic sanctions by some governments without the prior authorization of the Security Council and outside the United Nations Charter of Collective Security has made their legitimacy in line with international law uncertain. Some boycotters cite the principle of the freedom of governments to establish or sever their business relations with other states in justifying their actions. In some cases, the use of unilateral sanctions is seen as a tool to advance the national policy goals of powerful states. Whatever the ultimate goal of unilateral economic sanctions, the international obligations of governments within the framework of international human rights treaties must be taken into account.
Ignoring the detrimental effects of sanctions on the human rights situation in the target country not only destroys the legitimacy of these actions but also creates liability for governments or sanctions governments by international law. This article reviews the legitimacy of US sanctions against Iran and provides assessments of its non-compliance with international law and the effects of these sanctions.

Many European leaders point out that in recent years multilateralism, coalitions, and international agreements have become fragile. Since Donald Trump's arrival in the White House, the situation has worsened, as he looks at international politics from the perspective of zero sums and retaliatory measures. Currently, the European Union is facing several challenges in its neighborhood and its security environment is at risk. On the other hand, Russia's policies especially after the Ukraine crisis in 2014 have become more aggressive and have been associated with Russia's asymmetric war, especially in the cyber domain. Besides, North Africa and the Middle East have become the competition field of proxies for various countries. The combination of these factors along with the reluctance of the US during the Trump era, and of rotation its policy toward the east, has made EU, especially in its global strategy to emphasize its strategic independence.
Therefore, in the last two to three years, European leaders have spoken of Europe's strategic independence. This article attempts to examine the major reasons of the EU to benefit from the strategic independence, positions of the various actors and, the challenges facing the Union in this regard.

Since the 10th of November, the biggest and most widespread wave of popular protests since 2003 has started in central and southern cities of Iraq. The size of the protests and the widespread demands of the protesters to the withdrawal of government and make changes in that have made examining the background of the protest an important issue. In the present study, the components of disability and the economic crisis in Iraq after 2002, especially in the years after the emergence of ISIS, have been identified as the most important components that can be described as the engine of protest. Yet the economic factor cannot be considered as the only factor, but along this soft factor, there must be factors such as lack of unified military and divisions in the composition of the security forces, the existence of sectarian and ethnic divisions, the crisis of legitimacy and efficiency of government, and the interference of foreign countries. In fact, the "government" can be identified as the most important player in Iraq's current protests, as security and stability in West Asia are essentially "state-centered". Therefore, the main responsibility for creating crises and resolving the protests can be assumed and evaluated by the government and its function in various security, military and security fields. In spite of all this, after a short period of time since the beginning of the protests, we have witnessed foreign interference in order to stir up the public and increase the wave of demonstrations.