My friend Arthur telephoned me one summer morning in 2003, when I had just returned from Iraq, which had fallen into U.S. hands that April. Arthur was head of the refugee program at the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights. A decade earlier, he and I had travelled together to Iraq, …

Across Europe a war of ideas and principles has taken place since the European migrant crisis of 2015, when 1.3 million people entered in the European Union space and requested asylum. With a civil strife in the Middle East, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as perilous environments …

Early September the 6th edition of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) under the theme “New Opportunities for the Far East in a Changed World” was held and considered as vital platform for strengthening especially economic ties among Asia-Pacific countries and the Far East region of Russia. It also focused on …

With the Nigerian government confirming the death of Abu Bakr Shekau, the notorious leader of Boko Haram, in late August 2021, the future of the terrorist group looks bleak with its strength reportedly “significantly weakened” in the recent months.1 Its breakaway faction, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) which has …

Back in early May of 2020 Israel’s Interior minister urged ‘soul-searching’ in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community citing the very high coronavirus infection rate [60-70% of the sick in the entire country were ultra-Orthodox whereas only 10-12 percent of the general population is ultra-Orthodox]. Now in early September 2021only some 20 …

On July 10, 2020, Turkey’s high administrative court annulled a 1934 cabinet decision that had turned Istanbul’s famous Hagia Sophia mosque into a museum, dealing a further blow to the secularist legacy of modern Turkey’s founding father Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Shortly afterward, a presidential decree transferred the site’s ownership from …

While the West views the fall of the US-backed government as a strategic disaster, Ankara plans to turn the crisis there to its own advantage. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on August 29 that Turkish diplomatic activity will continue in Kabul and all its embassy staff had returned to …

As Kyiv and Chisinau firm up once weak bilateral ties, the Kremlin observes the formation of what it suspects is an anti-Russian alliance with alarm. Moldovan and Ukrainian leaders aim to build a solid relationship to boost their respective European aspirations, having big players on the eastern flank of the …

This year’s joint military exercise organised by Russia and Belarus on NATO’s eastern border is an unprecedented attempt to bully the West, in a new context with fresh tactics, argues Polish security expert Anna Maria Dyner. The culminating stage of the Zapad 2021 joint Russian-Belarusian military exercise will take place …

Last weekend’s street battles show the former ruling DPS won’t shrink from taking the whole country down with it, if it feels its interests are vitally threatened. For what it’s worth, many ordinary Montenegrins are as confused as everyone else about what just happened in their country. The violent scenes …