Eurasia

Kosovo’s Thaci Takes Aim at EU, Trying to Preserve Negotiating Role

In cosying up to Washington and criticising Brussels, Kosovo’s president is trying to protect his place at the negotiating table with Serbia, analysts say. Since returning from a week-long trip to Washington in early March, Kosovo President Hashim Thaci has turned his fire on the European Union, seeing the United …

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Sharing the Burden: Revisiting the EU-Turkey Migration Deal

On the night of 27-28 February, Turkey lifted the strict controls it has enforced at its sea and land borders with Greece since March 2016, prompting thousands of migrants to head for the frontier in order to attempt passage into Europe. Ankara’s decision came just an hour after news broke …

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Battle for the Sahel: the new frontline in the war on terror

International forces are struggling to contain a brutal Islamist insurgency, with the death toll rising alarmingly. The Trump administration shook hands with the Taliban on Saturday to end a near two decades-long war in Afghanistan. But just as one front in the battle on terror is closing a new one …

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What will happen to Iraqi Shiite militias after one key leader’s death?

The U.S. decision to assassinate Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani in January inadvertently also caused the death of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the powerful and influential head of Kataib Hezbollah and de facto head of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). While commentators have focused on Soleimani, the death of Muhandis has broad …

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Turkish strike in Syria kills nine Hezbollah members, wounds 30: source

Turkish strikes on northwest Syria late on Friday killed nine members of Iran-backed Hezbollah and wounded 30 others, a commander in the regional alliance backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said. The commander said on Saturday that the Turkish strikes targeted Hezbollah headquarters near the city of Saraqeb in Idlib, a …

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