Ahead of a legal opinion from the advocate general of the CJEU on the EU’s new rule-of-law mechanism, Brussels fires a warning shot in a letter to both. Poland’s riposte is to say the EHCR has no power to question its appointment of judges. The European Commission showed it is …

Viktor Orban is using Hungarian taxpayer money to renovate Slovak churches, chateaux and kindergartens – and is strengthening his position while doing so. “Francis II Rakoczi is like a god to Hungarians,” exclaims the tour guide on the cultural importance of a recently renovated chateau in the southeastern Slovak village …

Lawyers have accused Turkish authorities of unjustly detaining people for alleged Revolutionary Peoples’ Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) links. Turkish police conducted raids targeting a far-left armed group today. Police detained 25 individuals for alleged ties to the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) in Istanbul, Ankara and other parts of the country. …

A recent string of attacks on Iraq’s Kurdistan Region peshmerga forces have raised concern over how effective long-discussed coordination with the central government is in the country’s flashpoint disputed territories. Peshmerga forces operating in territory disputed between the central government and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) have in recent …

Moscow is likely to welcome a Turkish mediation effort if it serves to restrain Ukraine from a military adventure. Turkey has offered to mediate in the Ukraine crisis as tensions between NATO and Russia escalate, with fears that Russia might be gearing up to invade eastern Ukraine. The proposal from …

Two of the fossil fuels, coal, and natural gas, are used to generate continuous uninterruptible electricity, but not crude oil, the third fossil fuel, as it is primarily used to manufacture oil derivatives that thousands of products are based upon, and the fuels for various transportation infrastructures. Crude oil gets …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken by phone on December 6 ahead of President Biden’s call with Russian President Vladimir Putin in which Biden is expected to issue a strong warning against a Russian invasion of Ukraine. “Agreed to continue joint & concerted action. …

Major representatives of the European Central Bank—including ECB president Christine Lagarde—continue to warn against bitcoin. In a recent article, addressed to the inflation-adverse German audience, the ECB representative Klaus Masuch together with the former ECB chief economist Otmar Issing has stressed five risks of bitcoin: a lack of intrinsic value, …

In July, Putin published a 5,000-word article — “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians” — in which he wrote that he was convinced that the “true sovereignty of Ukraine is possible only in partnership with Russia.” “The Russian regime’s foremost interest is its own hold on power. All …

Principal Findings What’s new? Amid China’s increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea, and the deepening involvement of the United States and its allies, Vietnam is navigating a steadily thornier set of policy challenges. As the disputes intensify, the risk of armed conflict in the Sea is growing. Why does it …