Eurasia

Hungary is releasing hundreds of convicted people smugglers on condition they leave the country within 72 hours. Neighbouring countries are furious over an issue seen as another attempt to blackmail the EU over the freezing of billions in funds. On Monday, Austria announced the strengthening of border controls and summoned …

Croatia says that a big jump in migrants and refugees being returned to Bosnia is thanks to Sarajevo finally implementing a bilateral ‘readmissions’ deal. Data from Bosnia suggests otherwise. Croatia has been sending migrants and refugees back to Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2017 on the basis of a bilateral agreement …

Elsewhere, Polish parties try to outdo each other over child handouts; the media is in the headlines in Czechia; and Slovakia’s new technocratic government gets to work. Afact-finding delegation of the European Parliament’s Budgetary Control Committee left Budapest this week with concerns that the Hungarian government is not doing enough …

A leaked proposal by Hungary’s MVM Group that would see Serbia cede much of its hydropower resources has been seized on by the Serbian opposition and energy experts as another damaging consequence of the close ties between the countries’ leaders. Energy experts and opposition politicians in Serbia are accusing the …

With Bashar al-Assad having outlasted his armed opponents, Syria’s neighbours have long since given up on trying to oust him. As Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Arab states normalise their relations with Damascus and welcome the Syrian strongman to his first Arab League summit in 13 years, Syria is …

Beijing and Moscow are holding visits this week as alarm grows in China that Western countries backing Ukraine are turning their attention to Asia. When Russian troops poured into Ukraine over a year ago, many experts foresaw a strategic windfall for China, with the United States distracted again by a …

A war game conducted by Chinese scientists found that Beijing’s military could demolish a U.S. aircraft carrier group with a relatively small number of hypersonic missiles, the South China Morning Post reported.Experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation that publishing the game has propaganda value in showing that China is …

Biden’s about-face raises many questions, but key among them are how effective can the aircraft really be, and what is the endgame? On Friday, the Biden administration paved the way for Western allies and partners to transfer their stocks of American-made F-16 Fighter jets to Ukraine and added that the …

Bakhmut, the midsize Ukrainian city that used to have a population of 80,000, is now reportedly in Russian hands after a bloody nine-month military operation that turned the area into a wasteland. But regardless of who controls Bakhmut, the war will go on for the foreseeable future — the U.S. …

Debating an “Asia First” Approach As French President Emmanuel Macron travelled back from Beijing in April, he sparked an uproar. Speaking to reporters, Macron stated that European and U.S. interests were diverging, particularly in their approaches toward Asia. “The worst thing for Europe,” he said, “would be just when we …