February, 2022

• 11 February

  LOSING MY RELIGION IN SLOVAKIA

  Slovakia is traditionally viewed as the more religious part of the one-time common Czecho-Slovak state. Yet the latest census shows the country is becoming more atheist and this shift will likely be irreversible. Population data since 1989 has supported the stereotypical view that Slovaks are the more religious people of …

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• 10 February

  Raising Interest Rates Won’t Change Energy Prices, Says ECB Chief Lagarde

  

  Talking to EU lawmakers on Monday (8 February), European Central Bank (ECB) president Christine Lagarde reacted to criticism from conservative politicians who blamed ECB policy for the inflation currently biting into Europeans’ purchasing power. Yearly inflation was at 5.1% in January 2022, up from 5% in December, which is higher …

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• 10 February

  Deciphering Chinese Grand Strategy – Analysis

  

  Grand strategy refers to state’s plan of action to achieve its major long-term objectives. Beijing’s grand strategy relies on a combination of leadership declarations, policies, economic activities, and military means. Since its inception in 1949, China’s strategic focus has shifted from revolution-survival-recovery to an emphasis on rejuvenation. A combination of …

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• 10 February

  The Weaponization Of Economics (Part II)

  

  Slippery slope However, interesting as those experiments and observations might be, they are still the result of specific parameters within a particular setting and an environment that doesn’t resemble real life. Serious and honest behavioral economists both understand and freely admit this. Just because there was one experiment in which …

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• 10 February

  Understanding The ‘Shiite Crescent’ As Iranian Grand Strategy – Analysis

  

  As a concept, grand strategy refers to the long-range instrumental mobilisation of a state’s combined resources, vectors of influence and capabilities in order to achieve an advantageous position, satisfy vital national interests, enhance national security, and navigate assertively in an environment in which uncertainty and danger are commonplace. As such, …

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• 10 February

  The Russian Navy In The Russia-Ukraine War Scare – Analysis

  

  Shortly after the conclusion of the Russian-Belarusian strategic Zapad-2021 exercise, open-source analysts, corroborated by U.S. intelligence findings, began reporting a new build-up of Russian forces on the Ukrainian border. Though most tracking concentrates on the movement of Russian Ground Forces equipment, the Russian Navy has also been moving, albeit at …

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• 10 February

  Rusia no quiere intermediarios

  

  Putin deja en ridículo a Macron, y con él a Europa, para dejar claro que solo acepta que se le reconozca una relación entre grandes potencia con Estados Unidos Las prisas que se ha dado el Kremlin en desmentir que los presidentes de Rusia y Francia alcanzaran el lunes un …

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• 10 February

  Die Pipeline, deren Name nicht genannt werden darf

  

  Scholz in Washington; Macron in Moskau, Kiew und Berlin, wo er den Kanzler und den polnischen Präsidenten Duda trifft; Scholz nächste Woche in Moskau – der deutschen und der französischen Führung ist kein Weg zu weit beim Versuch, den Kreml von einem Überfall auf die Ukraine abzuhalten. Putin soll ganz …

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• 10 February

  Kam se ztratilo Německo? Unijní motor Paříž–Berlín jede během krize kolem Ukrajiny jen na jeden válec

  

  Komentář Petra Fischera: Kam se ztratilo Německo? ptá se v poslední době celá Evropa, když sleduje rostoucí napětí na ukrajinsko-ruských hranicích, jehož klidnění se Němci spíše vyhýbají. Německo je pořád tady, odmítá kritiku německá vláda, vždyť ministryně zahraničí Annalena Baerbocková byla v Moskvě i v Kyjevě a spolkový kancléř Olaf …

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• 10 February

  Belgian anti-terror police make 13 arrests in Antwerp

  

  Belgian police arrested 13 suspected members of an Islamist terror group in an operation in Antwerp on Tuesday. The suspects were detained for spreading jihadist propaganda on social media, though police said it was unclear whether they had made concrete plans to launch an attack. Around 100 police officers were …

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