mircea

Was a Top Russian General Involved in the Downing of Flight 17 in Ukraine?

If revelations that a top Russian intelligence chief was reportedly involved in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in eastern Ukraine didn’t make it to the top of your newsfeed this week, amid all the coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, don’t worry. You’re probably not alone. But it …

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Russia Is Getting More Than It Bargained For in Libya and Syria

Is Russia’s lucky streak in Syria and Libya finally running out? The Kremlin has gambled big on proxy warfare in both countries, deploying thousands of private military contractors with the so-called Wagner Group to back its favorite strongmen. But after a recent run of misfortunes for Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, …

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Mapping the Turkish Military’s Expanding Footprint

Turkish soldiers hold their position on a tank as they watch the town of Kobani from near the Mursitpinar border crossing, on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province October 13, 2014. The strategic border town of Kobani has been beseiged by Islamic State militants …

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US Sanctions on Syria: What Comes After the ‘Summer of Caesar’

In return for pressure from Russia on Damascus to make real concessions to end the suffering of Syrians including halting the use of some of its most egregious instruments of war and end strikes on populated areas, the US and Europe could offer to refrain from imposing additional sanctions and …

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Syria

Four U.S. soldiers were reportedly injured on Tuesday in a collision with a Russian military vehicle during a routine security patrol in north-eastern Syria. The incident follows skirmishes last week in the same region between U.S. and Syrian government forces, which allegedly killed one Syrian soldier. Crisis Group expert Dareen …

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China's 'Debt-Trap' Diplomacy with Third-World Nations

Chinese Communist Party Chairman Xi Jinping’s grand thoroughfares are now global in scope, extending as far as Djibouti, a strategic maritime chokepoint in Africa, just west of the Arabian Peninsula, or Ecuador, home to South America’s third-largest oil reserves.

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Switzerland considers banning Hezbollah

Switzerland is considering banning the Iranian-backed Shia group, Hezbollah, after the country’s federal council agreed last week to review a report investigating the group’s activities within its borders.

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