Days before a new round of discussions in Astana between Iran, Turkey, and Russia, and in parallel to talks about Turkey’s fear of a military operation by the Syrian army in Idleb, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced a new agreement between the two …
Read More »Kosovo War Crimes Court’s First Trial Will Set a Precedent
After a six-year wait, the first trial at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague will open on September 15, with former Kosovo Liberation Army officer Salih Mustafa facing charges of illegally detaining, torturing and killing prisoners. It was announced last week that the first trial at the Kosovo Special …
Read More »Pakistan: Shoring Up Afghanistan’s Peace Process
Pakistan’s stakes in Afghanistan are rising as U.S. and NATO troops prepare to leave. All-out war after the withdrawal could push more Afghan refugees across the border and strengthen Pakistani militants. Islamabad should ratchet up pressure on the Taliban to engage in peace talks. What’s new? The fast-paced withdrawal of foreign …
Read More »DEMOCRACY DIGEST: V4 DRAGGED INTO HUNGARY’S EU GAY RIGHTS SPAT
Hungary began the week at odds with the EU and ended the week even more so, dragging in its Central European neighbours along the way. EU leaders began a two-day summit on June 24 in Brussels having to deal with the fallout from Hungary’s recently passed anti-LGBT legislation – a …
Read More »ALBANIAN CRIME STORY: HOSTAGE TO THE COCAINE SUPPLY CHAIN
What a kidnapping in Albania reveals about Europe’s growing cocaine habit. There are two ways of interpreting the fact that the annual recorded seizures of cocaine in Europe have been hitting all-time highs every year for the last three years. The record-breaking hauls may, on the one hand, be taken …
Read More »American Muslim groups urge suspension of US aid to Egypt
The US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO), the largest coalition of major national, regional, and local Muslim organizations, Monday sent a letter to Secretary of State Anthony J. Blinken calling on the Biden administration and Congress to demand that “the Egyptian government halt its plans to conduct a mass execution …
Read More »China’s Crucial Decade
For the past four decades, a narrative has taken hold among policymakers and the general public alike suggesting that China’s rise will continue indefinitely, even when mathematics and demographics suggest otherwise. Between the 1980s and the turn of the millennium, this notion was fueled by China’s astonishing double-digit growth. In …
Read More »Several dead following Houthi missile attack on Yemen’s Marib
A Houthi statement on the strike contradicted a report by The Associated Press, which said a child was killed in the war-torn city. Three people died on Tuesday following a missile strike on Yemen’s embattled city of Marib. The Yemeni government and Houthi rebels disagree on the details. Houthi rebels …
Read More »Raisi’s economic agenda may depend on Iran nuclear deal
As the JCPOA parties prepare for a return to the seventh round of nuclear talks, incoming hardline Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi might actually welcome a done deal before taking office. Ebrahim Raisi’s election to the Iranian presidency has raised significant concern about the future direction of Iran’s domestic and foreign …
Read More »Air2030: Federal Council decides to procure 36 F-35A fighter aircraft
The Federal Council is set to propose that Parliament approve the procurement of 36 F-35A fighter aircraft from US manufacturer Lockheed Martin and five Patriot fire units from US manufacturer Raytheon. An evaluation has revealed that these two systems offer the highest overall benefit at the lowest overall cost. The …
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