Eurasia

Czechia launches first ever legal case against another EU member state over environmental issues, while Slovakia’s coalition continues to buckle under the strain of the pandemic. So much for the vaunted unity of the Visegrad Four. The Czech Republic this week announced plans to launch a legal case at the …

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared Wednesday that the relationship between the United States and China is the world’s “biggest geopolitical test” of the century. In his first major foreign policy speech, Blinken said the new Biden administration would “manage” ties with China “from a position of strength.” “That …

It is time the West offered robust support to the Istanbul-based Patriarchate – now being squeezed by Ankara and Moscow, both of which see it as a threat to their illiberal projects. The Ecumenical Patriarch and Archbishop of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, is the spiritual leader of some 300 million Orthodox …

Media ethics is the weakest part of the professional journalism today anywhere in the world. Instead of writing in civilized way, very often agencies, and especially Reuters, writes about Balkan people if they were tribes from the 11th century or so. Case in Point? Read no further than the headline: …

Since U.S. President Joe Biden’s election, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been making diplomatic overtures to the West, pledging democratic reforms at home and promising a serious effort to improve ties with Turkey’s NATO partners. The Turkish leader told France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, in a video call Tuesday that …

The Biden administration is turning Guam into a key forward operating base for deployments and other operations in the Western Pacific, with China the primary target. Guam’s centrality in America’s Indo-Pacific security strategy makes the island a key node. On Monday, Indo-Pacific Command submitted a request to Congress for an …

For the past decade Yemen has been torn apart by civil conflict, an extension of internecine strife that goes back much further. The main protagonists in the current struggle are the Houthis, a fundamentalist Shia militia group heavily dependent on Iran, and a Saudi Arabia-led coalition of Sunni states determined …

After years of conflict and suspension, Hungary’s ruling party finally departs the EPP parliamentary group with accusations that the political family of Europe’s centre-right parties is trying to “mute and disable our democratically elected MEPs”. Hungary’s nationalist-populist ruling party confirmed on Wednesday earlier leaked reports it has decided to leave …

Oil markets have long been central to discussions of the global economy, and fluctuations in oil prices frequently gain widespread attention. This column explores the impact of the rising use of fracking on how oil markets are best conceived within modern macroeconomic theory. The author’s model predicts that as fracking …

Mohammed bin Salman is a charming fellow. The tall, dark, and handsome Saudi prince known as MbS has seduced world leaders and eager pundits left and right. To his supporters, MbS became first in line to the Saudi throne by championing reform in a deeply conservative Gulf kingdom, taking on …