Eurasia

(FPRI) — On February 8, 2021, U.S. President Joseph Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed in a call to continue “close cooperation to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific.” U.S.-Indian cooperation has strengthened considerably in the past year against the backdrop of an increasingly tense security situation in …

Successful foreign policymaking, like love and dancing, is almost entirely dependent on timing. Unfortunately, at the present time, the new, sunny, administration of Joe Biden—with its utopian Wilsonian outlook—is in for a period of jarring realist education. The major players of the Indo-Pacific must not wait around for the superpower …

Slowing the pace of climate change and getting “tough” on China, especially over its human-rights abuses and unfair trade practices, are among the top priorities President Biden has announced for his new administration. Evidently, he believes that he can tame a rising China with harsh pressure tactics, while still gaining …

Cold political calculation has given wings to a motion to include ethnicity in ID cards in North Macedonia, setting the country apart from the rest of the world. Critics are alarmed.

Slovakia’s febrile politics and incompetent handling of the pandemic has made it vulnerable to Russian mischief using its Sputnik vaccine. In January, Prime Minister Igor Matovič was still expressing confidence that Slovakia would have enough Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for most of its adult population, and would only use the …

Armenian Defense Minister Vagarshak Arutyunyan has told Russia’s Novosti news agency that Yerevan would welcome an expansion of the Russian military base at Gyumri in Armenia because that would increase Armenia’s security

Iran says it has developed a new long-range wide-body combat drone that has a range of 3,000 kilometers, reports local media. The IRGC-linked Tasnim News Agency, cited Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh as saying the Kaman-22 (Bow-22) is the first wide-body combat drone manufactured by local experts.

The United Kingdom’s trading aspirations in Asia will not negate its dependence on the European Union, nor will they unwind the dominant economic role of China in its neighbourhood. UK trade with Asia post-Brexit needs to be accompanied by efforts to engage Beijing in the strengthening of trade rules and …

The Syrian Democratic Forces’ recent campaign to conscript youth for military service is compounding economic hardship in Deir ez-Zor province, one of the poorest areas of Syria. In villages where the campaign is most active, young men are staying home for fear of arrest, forgoing daily wages and delaying grocery …

Some Hamas representatives claimed that they were warned by Israeli authorities against presenting their candidacy. Israel is trying to prevent Hamas from participating in the Palestinian parliamentary election, slated for May 22, Hamas officials said Tuesday.