April, 2021

• 2 April

  Despite Baghdad-Erbil agreement, Iraq fails to pass federal budget bill

  Disagreements over the dollar exchange rate and foreign loans have blocked the parliament from passing the country’s budget bill for a fifth time. Iraq’s parliament failed to pass the federal budget bill on Sunday despite a last-minute agreement between Erbil and Baghdad over the Kurdistan Region’s share. Now disagreements loom …

  Read More »
• 2 April

  With Netanyahu vulnerable, Israel again ignored by Washington on Iran

  Knowing he is politically vulnerable, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is silent on Washington’s intention to return to the nuclear deal with Tehran. Israel finds itself irrelevant and inconsequential as the race against the Iranian nuclear threat enters its most important leg. As was the case on the eve of the …

  Read More »
• 1 April

  US, China, Russia and Thucydides Trap

  The Paris Climate Accord is more of an aspiration than a strategy while the Iranian nuclear problem has always been a way of avoiding the real issue: the danger that the Islamist regime poses for regional peace and stability. [T]he Biden doctrine, if one might suggest such a label… could …

  Read More »
• 1 April

  China Grabbing Whitsun Reef: ‘Sudetenland’ in Slow Motion

  The failure of the Obama administration to defend the Philippines in early 2012, in a confrontation similar to today’s, emboldened China’s regime to adopt an even more aggressive posture in its peripheral waters. China claims all the waters inside the dashes are sovereign as well, terming them “blue national soil.” …

  Read More »
• 1 April

  Suez Canal reopens after stuck cargo ship is freed

  Salvage teams on Monday finally freed the colossal container ship stuck for nearly a week in the Suez Canal, ending a crisis that had clogged one of the world’s most vital waterways and halted billions of dollars a day in maritime commerce. A flotilla of tugboats, helped by the tides, …

  Read More »
• 1 April

  Bulgarian ‘Assault’ On North Macedonia – Analysis

  In Bulgaria regular parliamentary elections are due to take place on 4 April 2021. At the elections 240 representatives/deputies in the Bulgarian National Assembly will be elected according to the proportional system with closed lists. In each of a total of 31 election units, between four and 16 representatives/ deputies …

  Read More »
• 1 April

  Muhammad Bin Salman: The Delusions Of Borrowing Protection – OpEd

  Ever since Muhammad Bin Salman otherwise known as MBS assumed the de facto leadership of Saudi Arabia, his rule has evidently been synonymous with one controversy after the next. Arbitrary detentions of critics, torturing family members during shakedowns, executing a revered cleric, creating a catastrophe in Yemen and of course …

  Read More »
• 1 April

  China’s FM Iran visit represents shift for the region

  

  Iran wants to leverage China’s role in the region and show that it can resist the US. China also wants to reassure the West that Iran will safeguard the nuclear deal. For Iran, the visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Tehran on an official two-day visit to hold …

  Read More »
• 1 April

  What is Iran saying about their agreement with China? – analysis

  

  “This agreement is somewhat ambiguous, and on the other hand, in some cases, Iran has had bitter experiences in dealing with other countries. It has pros and cons.” Iran is celebrating a new agreement with China. But what is inside the new 25-year plan? According to Fars News in Iran …

  Read More »
• 1 April

  China-Iran: Bad news, but it could be worse for Israel – analysis

  

  China would also receive a major discount on Iranian oil and become a near monopsony, as long as sanctions on Iran remain. When the details of a multibillion dollar, 25-year economic and security agreement between Iran and China leaked last summer, the headline in The Jerusalem Post was: “Proposed China-Iran …

  Read More »