October, 2021

• 24 October

  Europe’s Two Greatest Powers Closed For Business At Crucial Time – OpEd

  Not long ago, an archaeologist friend of mine and I came to a striking conclusion: We did our intellectual work entirely backwards from one another. He, with almost nothing to go on beyond shards of pottery, had to extrapolate a world from mere fragments. I, blessed or burdened (take your …

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• 23 October

  Iraq’s Election Raises More Questions Than Answers

  

  Muqtada al-Sadr, a Shia cleric whose Mahdi Army followers battled U.S. forces during the years of the occupation, made big gains in Iraq’s parliamentary election on October 10. His victory could pose problems for the United States and Iran. But despite the Sadrist List’s electoral success, it is not a …

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• 23 October

  What’s Really Standing in the Way of European Strategic Autonomy

  

  The NATO defense ministers who met yesterday and today in Brussels had a long list of issues to discuss, from the alliance’s role in confronting a rising China to its plans for countering a resurgent Russia. But NATO is also confronting more fundamental questions about its identity that have taken …

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• 23 October

  Biden gets predictability in Russia ties

  

  Moscow has butted the grand old transatlantic alliance in the chest on Monday with the foreign ministry announcing that it will suspend the NATO military liaison mission with effect from November 1 and recall the accreditation of its staff in response to the NATO decision to withdraw the accreditation of …

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• 23 October

  Do You Want a New Cold War?

  

  Before it’s too late, we need to ask ourselves a crucial question: Do we really — I mean truly — want a new Cold War with China? Because that’s just where the Biden administration is clearly taking us. If you need proof, check out last month’s announcement of an “AUKUS” …

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• 23 October

  Iran tests drones amid simmering tensions with Azerbaijan

  

  The exercise was held at a time of intensifying hostile rhetoric between Tehran and Baku, as Russia continues its cautious position in between. The air force of the Iranian army launched a major drill on Oct. 21 involving several bases nationwide, the latest in a series of muscle-flexing gestures by …

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• 23 October

  Bennett meets Putin in Sochi to discuss Iran, Syria

  

  The meeting in Sochi between Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Russian President Vladimir Putin covered a large range of strategic and economic issues, focusing on Israeli concerns over Iranian military entrenchment in Syria and the Iran nuclear talks. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met today, Oct. 22, in Sochi with Russian …

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• 23 October

  Turkey tells Syrian opposition forces to increase military readiness

  

  The timing and extent of the anticipated operation against Syrian Kurdish forces are still uncertain and will likely depend on Ankara’s weighing of tradeoffs with Washington and Moscow. Following a spate of rocket attacks in areas of northern Syria under the control of Turkish-backed groups, Ankara is telling its Syrian …

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• 23 October

  Pandora Papers: Who says the United States is without sin?

  Why is the world’s most powerful democracy absent from the 12 million pages of leaked documents on global tax dodging and hidden wealth schemes? Where are the US billionaires, Wall Street banks and financiers, the Big Four tax firms Deloitte, EY, KPMG, PwC? In this first of a two-part series, …

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• 23 October

  Far-Right ‘Berserker Clan’ Accused of Prepping for Armed Uprising in Germany

  Police raids have been carried out across Germany against the group, which was allegedly gearing up for a so-called “Day X” when it intended to rise up against the government. German police have carried out raids across the country against a far-right group that was allegedly prepping for an armed …

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