A Biden administration initiative to centralise power at state level in Bosnia – while decentralising it at local level – will not necessarily bring any more stability and inclusion to the country. With a change to the US administration in sight, discussions about expected changes in Washington’s policy towards the …
Read More »Kosovo Must Take Three Crucial Steps During Biden’s Presidency
Kosovo must make use of a new, more sympathetic, administration to leverage US support on core issues affecting its security, legitimacy and energy supply. With Joe Biden now inaugurated as US president, Kosovo has four years to leverage assured support. Biden has more foreign policy experience than any other recent …
Read More »Vote ‘Secured’: How to Rig an Albanian Election and Get Away with It
The prosecution file in a case of alleged electoral fraud in a remote Albanian region in 2016 lays bare an industrial-scale campaign of vote-buying and intimidation up and down the ranks of the country’s ruling Socialist Party. As yet, no one has faced justice.
Read More »Turkey and Greece: Still More Peace Talks
Ankara and Athens, starting in 2002, held 60 rounds of talks before their exploratory efforts came to a halt in 2016. After a five-year-long pause the rivals agreed to resume talks on January 25, starting the 61st round. “The idea that a strategic — so-called strategic — partner of ours …
Read More »Germany: Meet Angela Merkel’s Second Successor
“You get the impression that Armin Laschet still believes in a partnership with Putin’s Russia. He ignores the fact that there simultaneously is both a geopolitical and a value conflict with Moscow. This conflict requires a certain degree of severity, a policy of deterrence and also a policy of sanctions. …
Read More »G7 Foreign Ministers Condemn Russia Over Navalny Detention, ‘Violent Suppression’ Of Protests
Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) major industrial nations have condemned Russia for the “politically motivated” detention of Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny and the “violent suppression” of protesters demanding his release over the weekend.
Read More »Saab Signs Two Contracts for Next Generation Corvettes for Sweden
Saab and the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration, (FMV), have signed two agreements concerning the next generation of surface ships and corvettes. A Product Definition Phase for the Mid-Life Upgrades (MLU) of five Visby-class corvettes, as well as a Product Definition Phase for the next generation; Visby Generation 2 corvettes. The …
Read More »In First Phone Call, Biden Warns Putin On Navalny, Ukraine, Agrees On Treaty Extension
U.S. President Joe Biden has spoken with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for the first time since his inauguration last week, raising concerns about some of the Kremlin’s activities, including the treatment of jailed Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny and the seizure of the Crimean peninsula.
Read More »Greece, France Finalize $2.8 Billion Fighter Jet Deal
Greece and France have sealed a $2.8 billion deal for the purchase of 18 Rafale fighter jets for the Greek air force. The deal is part of a larger weapons purchase program that Greece is carrying out as it sits down to negotiate a solution to a growing dispute with …
Read More »China Consolidates Its Commercial Foothold in Djibouti
China’s presence in Africa’s smallest country is far more extensive than just a military base. Djibouti, located at the far end of the Horn of Africa, is the country with the smallest acreage on the African continent. But its proximity to the Middle East, its location on the energy transit …
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