Middle Eastern battlegrounds are alive and kicking even though rivals seek to balance contentious relations. Take efforts by the United Arab Emirates, and more recently Saudi Arabia, to bring Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in from the cold in a bid to drive a wedge between Syria and Iran and address …

In early May, Reuters published a report that truly captured my attention. “European savers are pulling more of their money from banks, looking for a better deal as lenders resist paying up to hold on to deposits some feel they can currently live without,” the article reported. Over in the …

Money supply growth fell again in March, plummeting further into negative territory after turning negative in November 2022 for the first time in twenty-eight years. March’s drop continues a steep downward trend from the unprecedented highs experienced during much of the past two years. Since April 2021, money supply growth …

Kosovo has recorded stable economic progress while reducing the poverty rate and increasing per capita income, according to The World Bank, which approved the new Country Partnership Framework for the fiscal years 2023-2037. The World Bank found an increase of nearly 50% in per capita income and a 35% reduction …

The separatist Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik has called on Turkish citizens to vote for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in next Sunday’s election, saying his persistence and patriotism have turned Turkey into ‘a progressive and modern country’. Dodik, the president of Republika Srpska, one of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s two autonomous entities, threw …

Marc Tarabella, who was conditionally released from his electronic ankle bracelet on Tuesday, once again claimed his innocence before the press Wednesday and appeared visibly emotional while recounting his story. Tarabella has been charged with public corruption, money laundering and membership of a criminal organisation for his alleged involvement in …

The head of Macron’s party described Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s immigration policy as inhumane following a string of insults from the French side, which has left Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini angered while Meloni focuses on turning the page. Last week, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin reignited a …

Dutch entities that unnecessarily terminated their Gazprom contracts due to government pressure to comply with EU sanctions will be reimbursed entirely, Climate and Energy Minister Rob Jetten (D66/Renew) wrote in a letter to parliament on Wednesday. For fear that the contracts would breach EU sanctions, Jetten pressured Dutch communities, educational …

Replacing Kaliningrad’s name with Królewiec, the city’s original name from the Middle Ages, is madness, the Kremlin said after the Polish geographical standard body’s decision was made public. In 1945, the city was placed under Soviet administration under the Potsdam Agreement and in 1946, it was renamed Kaliningrad after Russian …

Unanimity has been the default voting rule in EU foreign policymaking. Multiple crises could change that status quo. The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) is one of few remaining policy areas of the European Union that still requires unanimity—meaning the agreement of all twenty-seven member states. At a time …