Eurasia

Russia looks to the Taliban as a stabilising force in Afghanistan – and this may mean formal recognition of the new regime in the country. During the farewell meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Moscow last month, Putin spoke in public about the Taliban …

The National Resistance Front (NRF) leader has voiced his willingness for talks with the Taliban on an end to the fighting in Panjsher province. As the Taliban stormed into his stronghold on Sunday, Ahmad Massoud positively responded to a call from religious scholars for a negotiated end to the conflict. …

The Taliban proclaimed on Monday the conquest of the province of Panjshir, the only one of the 34 regions that had not fallen into the hands of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA). “Panjshir has come under the full control of the Emirate… Some rebels were defeated and the rest …

An employee of a German security company contracted by the Bundestag has gone on trial on espionage charges after being accused of passing floor plans of buildings used by the German parliament to the Russian secret services. The 56-year-old suspect, identified only as “Jens F.”, did not make any statements …

Before disclosing his real identity and announcing he was breaking ties with al-Qaeda in July 2016, “the conqueror” amir of Jabhat al-Nusra (JN), Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, always made sure to speak with confidence when asked about his relationship with al-Qaeda. He also wore a traditional, modest Shami outfit, projecting a …

Thousands of migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East are pouring into the European Union from Belarus, a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. The surge in illegal immigration is being orchestrated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who is accused of trying to blackmail the EU into reversing the sanctions …

Poland’s mistreatment of migrants trying to enter via its border with Belarus is seen by legal experts as one further step in the erosion of refugee rights established by international law. In the village of Usnarz Gorny, on the Polish border with Belarus, scenes as though taken from an absurdist …

The failure of the European Commission to activate the rule-of-law mechanism and prevent Poland and Hungary from benefiting from EU funds is being hailed as a victory in Budapest. Warsaw is still mad about being forced to reverse its judicial reforms. The pro-government daily Magyar Nemzet was celebrating as a …

It would be easy to blame Donald Trump for the disarray in the transatlantic alliance, but twenty-five years of American exceptionalism is the real culprit. The aggressive expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in the Clinton and Bush administrations over the objections of our West European allies began a …

I'm so tired Tired of waiting Tired of waiting for you – The Kinks For the last month and a half I’ve driven the backroads of southern Indiana, criss-crossing the unglaciated hill country 40 miles south of Indianapolis and 40 miles north of Louisville. It’s mostly forested here, large remarkably …