Eurasia

Democracy exists if and when a community organizes its self-governance around the full participation, on an equal basis, of all the members of the community. Its other, autocracy, exists when a community organizes (or allows) its governance by an individual or subgroup of that community, a ruler. Universal suffrage is …

Why were the Islamists thrashed in the last parliamentary elections in Morocco? The literal decimation of the Justice and Development Party (PJD) to 12 seats from the 125 they had in the previous parliament was a major blow and surprised everyone including the pro-state, pro-monarchy and pro-establishment parties. It was …

This guidance paper aims to advise VASPs on best-practice compliance when dealing with proliferation financing risk, and directs compliance officers towards relevant publications that may assist in their work. Since at least 2014, North Korea has shown increasing cybercrime expertise and interest, more recently expanding into VAs. Throughout 2020 and …

Much is still uncertain about the new AUKUS ‘enhanced trilateral security partnership’. The deal for at least eight nuclear submarines to be built in Australia is described as a ‘first initiative’ but the partnership’s aims, and whether there will be a governing treaty, are not yet clear. Nor is the …

In January 2021, eight months ago, when rumours about the possibility of appointment of Christian Schmidt as the High Representative in Bosnia occurred for the first time, I published the text under the title ‘Has Germany Lost Its NATO Compass?’. In this text I announced that Schmidt was appointed to …

United States President Joe Biden signed an executive order that allows the US government to impose sanctions against those responsible for a range of serious human rights abuses in northern Ethiopia. The order establishes a sanctions regime that allows the US government to deny visas to and freeze the assets …

President Joe Biden’s decision to form a strategic Indo-Pacific alliance with Australia and Britain to counter China is angering France and the European Union. They’re feeling left out and seeing it as a return to the Trump era. The security initiative, unveiled this week, appears to have brought Biden’s summer …

George Soros has thrown a public hissy fit over the fact that he can’t make the kind of easy money off China that he was able to make when the Soviet Union was carved up and privatized. On September 7, 2021, in his second mainstream editorial in a week, George …

Riyadh is looking to expand its relationship with the Taliban, to expand and protect its interests in the region, and counter Iranian influence. In a sign of renewed interest by Saudi Arabia in engaging with the Taliban, the kingdom’s former head of intelligence, Prince Turki al-Faisal, met with top Taliban …

Members of the Islamic Emirate were seen on Monday touring the Mes Aynak copper mine, which two Chinese companies had been developing. China’s Jiangxi Copper Co Ltd said that it and the Metallurgical Corp of China (MCC) were monitoring the situation in Afghanistan and would push forward with the development …