Recent Posts

Deporting Syrians: A ploy to propel Lebanon’s US-backed army chief into power?

Did Lebanon’s US-backed army commander exploit the Syrian refugee crisis and incite clashes with them to catapult himself into the highly-contested Lebanese presidency? The US silence on Joseph Aoun’s illegal deportations last week is deafening. Since the 2011 outbreak of war in Syria, hundreds of thousands of displaced Syrians have …

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The sanctions boomerang: Why trade bans backfire

Trade wars have been common throughout history, but they often have unintended consequences that undermine their intended goals. From Napoleon to the US and EU – none got it right. In 1806, the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte implemented one of the most significant trade blockades in European history, known as …

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How Azerbaijan’s stability became vital for China

When the Ukraine war interrupted Beijing’s land route to Europe, Azerbaijan and its neighborhood became a vital alternative pathway, but adversaries may seek to disrupt that. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Beijing’s northern trade route to Europe has been severely curtailed, making the “Middle Corridor” route that …

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