Turkey froze the assets of 770 Turkish nationals and a Chicago-based foundation, according to a decision published Friday in the country’s official gazette. The list of targets includes 454 people with alleged links to Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lives in the United States. The Turkish government accuses Gulen and …

Americans performed three very different policies on the People’s Republic: From a total negation (and the Mao-time mutual annihilation assurances), to Nixon’s sudden cohabitation. Finally, a Copernican-turn: the US spotted no real ideological differences between them and the post-Deng China. This signalled a ‘new opening’: West imagined China’s coastal areas …

Moscow considers the threat of a new missile crisis as serious, the RIA news agency cited Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Monday amid a standoff between Russia and Western powers over Ukraine. Throughout the crisis, Russia has veered between harsh rhetoric, calls for dialogue and dire warnings, …

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a marathon news conference Thursday, blamed the West for tensions on the Ukraine border and fears of war, but stopped short of issuing any pronouncements likely to drive further escalation. One of his most prominent television appearances of the year, the annual conference, which lasted …

When the news broke on December 7 that the Syrian port of Latakia had been bombed, and that an Israeli military spokesperson had declined to comment, a natural first reaction was that this air strike was the latest of hundreds over the past few years, targeting Syrian government facilities in …

Although reluctantly, current central bank governors and respected economists have ramped up their warnings that inflation is here to stay. However, while it took officials a considerable period of time to admit the inflationary threat, despite the signs and warnings, they are failing to name its root causes. Inevitably, and …

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has lambasted the United Kingdom for a “meddlesome statement” issued by the Foreign Office on Iran’s defensive capabilities, stressing that Tehran acts within international laws and regulations and in accordance with the Islamic Republic’s defense needs. “The nuclear program of the Islamic Republic of Iran is …

Taliban officials in Afghanistan confirmed Friday that they had discussed plans with a joint delegation from Turkey and Qatar for firms from the two countries to run airports in Kabul and other Afghan cities. The talks came as the international community looks for ways to scale up delivery of urgently …

Nord Stream 2, the $10.5 billion, 1,230km gas pipeline running from Russia to north-eastern Germany along the bottom of the Baltic Sea, is technically complete and ready for operation. However, the project has yet to receive German and European Union regulatory approval, with that process threatening to drag out until …

The United States and Ukraine deny that Kyiv is preparing a military offensive in its eastern region, an assertion made by Russian President Vladimir Putin during his news conference on December 23. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that “facts make clear that the only aggression at the border …