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Albania Elections 2021

Stay tuned for all of the latest developments, election results and reactions as Albanian citizens head to the polls to elect a new government. Voters in Albania head to polling stations on Sunday to elect 140 members of a new parliament after a tense campaign marked by heated polemics and …

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DEMOCRACY DIGEST: CZECHS BRING ‘BALANCE’ TO DIPLOMATIC TIES WITH RUSSIA

The deterioration in Czech-Russian relations reached a nadir this week as Prague ordered scores of Russian ‘diplomats’ to leave. Starting a new job is always stressful – it always takes a few weeks to get your feet under the table. Much sympathy must go to Jakub Kulhanek then, who was …

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Turkish forces in fresh offensive against PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan

The latest Turkish military operation against the PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan comes at a time when Ankara finds itself increasingly under strain, both on the domestic front and in its frosty ties with Washington. The Turkish military has launched a critically timed ground and air offensive against Kurdish militants in …

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Blinken cautions Turkey against future S-400 purchases

Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said that President Joe Biden’s recent recognition of the Armenian genocide should not have come as a surprise. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that Turkey shouldn’t make any additional purchases of Russian weaponry, warning that doing so could provoke further US sanctions. …

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Cyprus unification talks falter as Turkey clings to two-state idea

Talks to reunite Cyprus have again failed to unblock a four-year pause in negotiations over the future of the Eastern Mediterranean island. The latest attempt to lay the ground for the resumption of talks to reunite Cyprus failed after a three-day summit, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a news conference …

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Vienna Nuclear Talks Nearing Successful Conclusion, Sides Say

Iran and world powers including the United States concluded their fourth round of nuclear negotiations in Vienna on Wednesday, as the sides look to secure an agreement enabling a mutual return to compliance with the abandoned 2015 pact. Russia’s representative to the talks, which began in early May, said all …

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Ending Yemen’s Multilayered War

For U.S. officials who worked under former President Barack Obama, many of whom are now beginning or contemplating jobs in Joe Biden’s administration, the war in Yemen casts a long shadow. What started on their watch as a primarily internal power struggle has since metastasized into a messy and multilayered …

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Why the World’s Newest Country Has Only Known Conflict

Few nations have seen their dreams and hopes dashed as quickly and ruthlessly as South Sudan. A mere two years after thousands thronged the streets of the capital, Juba, to celebrate independence from Sudan’s autocratic rule, the country descended into a brutal civil war. The fallout between President Salva Kiir …

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As Right-Wing Extremism Rises, Jihadism Still Persists

Six separate terrorist attacks took place in Europe between late September and late November of last year—three in France, and one each in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. All six attacks were inspired by Salafi-jihadist ideology, which is, and will remain, a persistent terrorism threat to Europe and elsewhere in the …

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Al-Qaida Is Diminished, but Don’t Write Its Obituary Just Yet

Rumors began swirling last fall that al-Qaida chieftain Ayman al-Zawahiri had died of natural causes. With no confirmation, counterterrorism analysts and long-time al-Qaida watchers weighed in with various assessments of what it would mean for the terrorist organization if it had indeed lost its leader. Just last week, al-Qaida’s official …

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