Iran becoming a full member of the China and Russia-led SCO may be more symbolic than beneficial, but could help Iran nonetheless amid international isolations, sanctions and shifting regional dynamics. Iran’s admission to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) this week further aligns the Islamic Republic with Russia and China, though …

The oil cartel currently has 13 members, and 10 more countries form the OPEC+ group. The head of OPEC said on Wednesday that the producer alliance is actively looking for new nations to join the cartel, which accounts for 40% of the world’s oil output. The coalition held the OPEC …

Africa has become an essential element of Russia’s geostrategic posture in recent years as Moscow seeks to evade its international isolation and sanctions. However, facing isolation and a contracting economy, Russia has come to the realisation that cultivating an entry point into Africa through conventional means like foreign direct investment …

Destroyed homes, cars, streets and memorials pepper Jenin refugee camp as Israel pulls out. But so does defiance. Waled Rashed Mansour’s arm is blue where an Israeli military dog attacked him, the memory as raw as the wound. “They came into our home, they blew up the doors,” the 65-year-old …

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s position weakened by the Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mutiny amid Ukraine war, analysts say. Seventy weeks since he ordered his troops into neighbouring Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin faced a major mutiny back home. On June 23, Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin circulated a video purportedly showing a …

China may have the opportunity to turn Russia into its vassal, but it has no compelling reason to do so. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia-China cooperation has grown in all directions. Moscow makes no bones about the fact that it is betting on China in …

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin came to power, Moscow has routinely sought to redirect trade through countries in the post-Soviet space to help its allies and weaken its opponents with the goal of preventing any of the former union republics from becoming regional competitors to Russia. Now, the Kremlin has …

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president, has warned that Moscow’s confrontation with the West will last decades and that its conflict with Ukraine could become permanent. A Reuters report said: Medvedev, now deputy head of the Security Council, said in an article for the government’s Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper, tensions between Russia …

Turkey said its latest ban is in response to “the intensification of activities by the PKK terrorist organization in Sulaimaniyah.” Turkey on Monday extended a flight ban to Iraqi Kurdistan’s Sulaimaniyah International Airport for six months, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) officials confirmed, in a move that will further squeeze the …

The Wagner issue could significantly impact the conflict in Libya and lead to further instability in the country. Recent developments in Russia, and Wagner’s open mutiny against the Kremlin have sparked considerable speculation regarding the potential impact on Wagner’s operations in Libya, a war zone it has heavily invested in …