Going into 2022, many of the main issues that dominated the European Union’s (EU) relations with the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), from the ongoing talks in Vienna to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to the conflicts in …
Read More »Russian-backed Regime Forces Attack ISIS in Badia Desert
A Russian-backed campaign by the regime is targeting ISIS in the Syrian Badia, where sleeper cells are conducting deadly attacks, according to Zaman al-Wasl. The Russian-backed Syrian regime forces launched a military campaign against the Islamic State (ISIS) militants in the Badia desert amid an intensification of attacks on the …
Read More »Russia’s Gazprom Has No Plan To Export Gas To Europe In February?
Reportedly, Russian state energy giant Gazprom said it has not booked any capacity to pump gas to Europe through the Yamal pipeline in February underscoring a sharp drop-off in Russian exports to the region so far this year. Gazprom said pipeline exports of Russian gas have tumbled 41% from a …
Read More »Blinken Warns Russia Of Action Should Moscow Invade Ukraine
The United States is warning Russia that the U.S. and its allies will respond “forcefully and resolutely” to further Russian military aggression against Ukraine but hopes Moscow will pursue a diplomatic path to resolve the crisis, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told VOA in Kyiv Wednesday. “We’ve offered Russia a …
Read More »World Re-Binarized: Brief History Of Sino-American Collision Course – Analysis
Americans performed three very different policies on the People’s Republic: From a total negation (and the Mao-time mutual annihilation assurances), to Nixon’s sudden cohabitation. Finally, a Copernican-turn: the US spotted no real ideological differences between them and the post-Deng China. This signalled a ‘new opening’: West imagined China’s coastal areas …
Read More »Rebuilding The World Order – Analysis
Many in the West believe China’s economic ascendancy indicates that Beijing is covertly working to usher in a new world order in which the balance of power has shifted. History shows that changes in the world order are inevitable, but they are not happening as quickly as some analysts think. …
Read More »Putin’s Post-Soviet World Remains A Work In Progress, But Africa Already Looms – Analysis
Russian civilisationalism is proving handy as President Vladimir Putin seeks to expand the imaginary boundaries of his Russian World, whose frontiers are defined by Russian speakers and adherents to Russian culture rather than international law and/or ethnicity. Mr. Putin’s disruptive and expansive nationalist ideology has underpinned his aggressive approach to …
Read More »Moscow’s Compellence Strategy – Analysis
How ambitious are Russia’s foreign policy objectives, and how much force does Moscow believe it must employ to achieve them? Moscow has submitted various ultimatums, but the most critical and pressing issue is that the Kremlin now regards Ukraine as a permanently hostile country continuing to increase its defense capabilities. …
Read More »Ukraine, Russia And The Kosovo Precedent
Some years ago, in the aftermath of Russia’s 2014 seizure of Crimea, I noted in this space the precedent set by the West’s support of Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence in February 2008. Kosovo had been part of Serbia and recognized as such in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244. …
Read More »Macron ist ein Segen für die EU
Emmanuel Macron wird vorgeworfen, ein Sonntagsredner zu sein. Und seine Atompolitik ist umstritten. Aber dennoch braucht ihn die EU. Europa, immer wieder Europa: Zum dritten Mal innerhalb von zwei Monaten hat Präsident Emmanuel Macron seine Pläne für den französischen EU-Vorsitz vorgestellt – diesmal vor dem Europaparlament in Straßburg. Ist Macron …
Read More »