Eurasia

Biden’s Saudi Trip Reflects an Acceptance of the Region as It Is U.S. President Joe Biden’s upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia has unleashed a gusher of chatter in the American foreign policy community. Some reactions, including from influential Democratic politicians, have been unreservedly negative. Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff said, “Until …

A number of U.S. veterans are reportedly training Ukrainian soldiers near the frontlines of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, said the New York Times in an article — In Ukraine, U.S. Veterans Step In Where the Military Will Not — on July 3, 2022, Sunday (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/03/us/politics/american-combat-volunteers-ukraine.html). “Americans are in Ukraine,” states the …

Why does war persist? War was always madness, always immoral, always the cause of unspeakable suffering, economic waste and widespread destruction, and always a source of poverty, hate, barbarism and endless cycles of revenge and counter-revenge. It has always been a crime for soldiers to kill people, just as it …

Poverty and wealth remain two sides of the same coin – at times, minted in Germany. Germany’s super-rich own very obscene levels of treasures – mostly thanks to unsavory capitalism, dirty business dealings, white collar crime, and the Nazi past of many of Germany’s businesses. Furnished with all that, Germany’s …

Russian President Vladimir Putin adopted the expression “special military operation” for his invasion of, and war in, Ukraine. Putin’s brutal and senseless war cannot be hidden behind such an obtuse expression. In response to Russia’s aggression, it is the United States that has mounted a “special military operation” against Russia, …

South Sudan President Salva Kiir has lauded the Sudanese military leadership’s decision to return the country to civilian rule. Sudan’s military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Monday called on political forces to agree on a civilian transitional government without them, further stressing the need to establish a national security …

The United States’ top general for Africa has warned of “violent extremism” and the threat of Russian mercenaries in the Sahel region, speaking as war games wrapped up in Morocco. “We are seeing the rise of violent extremism in Western Africa, predominantly in the Sahel region,” said General Stephen J. …

QatarEnergy on Tuesday signed a deal with Shell (SHEL.L) for the Gulf state’s North Field East expansion, the first phase of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, following agreements with TotalEnergies , Exxon , ConocoPhillips (COP.N) and Eni (ENI.MI). Shell will take a 6.25% stake in the North …

THE WAR in Ukraine is likely to last for years and to end in a Russian defeat of one kind or another. The essence of this war, apart from the enormous suffering it has caused, is that Vladimir Putin has made an epic strategic blunder by launching it and that …

Ukraine is itself not a repudiation of the idea of spheres of influence, but rather a clear example of how they work in practice. IN DECEMBER 2021, Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed negotiations over Russia’s formidable military buildup around Ukraine. He reiterated that the United States would not discuss …