The Turkish leader is navigating Ankara’s relationships in ways that he believes best benefit Turkey’s interests and above all his own political survival. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “U-turn” on Sweden’s accession to NATO during the alliance summit in Vilnius has prompted a flurry of Western commentary on how Turkey …

When the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meet in Gandhinagar next week, the world will be looking for joint action to address rising economic fragmentation, slowing growth, and high inflation. Agile multilateral support is vital to tackle common challenges posed by debt vulnerabilities, climate change, and limited concessional …

Even before it shuttered the Finnish consulate in St. Petersburg last week, Moscow had closed the consulates of the Baltic countries, the United States, the UK, and the Netherlands. But the closure of the Finnish outpost there effectively slammed shut Russia’s famed “window on Europe” because it had issued more …

Topped off by a curious ‘coup’ attempt in Russia, June was a fascinating month with new geopolitical, economic developments, twists and turns on many fronts: As US President Joe Biden wooed, wined and dined India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi (who was once refused a visa to America), France’s Emmanuel Macron …

The United States Sends Cluster Munitions to UkraineThe Biden administration has decided to send cluster munitions to Ukraine in its latest military assistance package. Cluster munitions, also known as dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICMs), comprise a broad range of rockets and artillery rounds, ranging from 105mm-class, 155mm-class, and 203mm-class artillery …

The future of the Wagner Group is in doubt. Less than a week after Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin launched his march on Moscow on June 23, which was then aborted mid-coup, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered Wagner fighters who participated in the rebellion the option of relocating to Belarus. Putin …

Even as the whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg of the Pentagon Papers passed away, his second secret remains hushed. On June 16, the 92-year-old Daniel Ellsberg passed away. At RAND, he contributed to a top-secret 47-volume study of classified documents on the Vietnam War. Even though the war had been acknowledged to …

Beijing has nothing to offer Moscow in terms of ideology, but will gladly share its ideas for the economy and political control.The world’s first center for studying the ideas of Chinese leader Xi Jinping has opened in Moscow within Russia’s Institute of China and Modern Asia, part of the Academy …

Led by the United States and Germany, NATO gave Kyiv no date for joining the military alliance. This is a short-sighted decision that Russia will exploit. It was called the “Bakhmut-Vilnius Marathon—Raise the Flag of Ukraine in NATO.” It started off in Kyiv. For over a week, groups of Ukrainians …

Now that’s an opening act. On the eve of the NATO Summit in Vilnius, and after more than a year of twists and turns, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Monday that he would push forward Sweden’s accession into NATO. The announcement came after a meeting with Swedish Prime Minister …