TimeLine Layout

December, 2023

  • 8 December

    Russia’s Vladimir Putin arrives in UAE, first stop on Middle East trip

    Moscow also said that Putin will then travel to Saudi Arabia and will meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday for an important visit. He is meeting with the President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohamed bin …

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  • 8 December

    US military to gain access to Swedish bases amid continued NATO bid delay

    Sweden and the United States have signed an agreement giving the US military access to 17 Swedish bases, which has been viewed as a response to Budapest and Ankara delaying Stockholm’s NATO bid. The military agreement is the first of its kind between the two countries and will allow the …

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  • 8 December

    Belgian NGOs want EU migration pact talks to start from scratch

    Several Belgian and European civil society groups began their two-week-long campaign on Wednesday with the aim of cancelling the currently negotiated EU Migration and Asylum Pact and starting afresh. Their “Not This Pact” campaign is backed by several civil society organisations active at the Belgian or EU level, including Caritas …

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  • 8 December

    Macron to host Orbán to find compromise on new Ukraine aid

    French President Emmanuel Macron will receive Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for a “working dinner” in Paris on Thursday evening to discuss further EU aid for Ukraine despite continued strong opposition from Budapest. Like in March, Macron is hosting Orbán at the presidential palace to discuss several issues that will …

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  • 8 December

    Bulgarian socialists accused of cobbling fake coalition

    Two political parties expressed surprise and anger on Wednesday (6 December) when they learned they had been included in a coalition led by the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) without their knowledge. To increase its political influence in the EU’s poorest country, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), which is part of …

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  • 6 December

    Ukraine’s Political Intrigue Deepens As The SBU Alleges A Poroshenko-Orban-Russian Plot

    After having crossed the Rubicon of implying that the same man who waged the first Donbass War is either a Russian agent or at least that country’s useful idiot, it’s anyone’s guess what happens next, but the past month’s precedent suggests that more drama is likely. Reuters reported over the …

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  • 6 December

    Putin’s Weak Link to Crimea

    Kyiv Should Target the Kerch Bridge—but Needs Missiles to Take It Out When Russia annexed Crimea in February 2014, the peninsula became crucial to Moscow’s strategy to dominate Ukraine and the Black Sea region. Critical to that domination is the bridge spanning the Kerch Strait, the narrow strip of water …

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  • 6 December

    Gaza and the Future of Information Warfare

    The Digital Front of the Israel-Hamas Conflict Is a Preview of Fights to Come The Israel-Hamas war began in the early hours of Saturday, October 7, when Hamas militants and their affiliates stole over the Gazan-Israeli border by tunnel, truck, and hang glider, killed 1,200 people, and abducted over 200 …

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  • 6 December

    We Can Have Either Billionaires or Democracy. Not Both.

    As we count down toward the 2024 general election, we should expect to hear from media pundits about candidates and their viability, swing states and the electoral college, likely voters and poll results, and much more. Occasionally we may hear about some issues of importance. Most likely, we will hear …

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  • 6 December

    Richard Falk on Kissinger’s Foreign Policy

    International relations scholar Richard Falk once summarized Christopher Hitchen’s The Trial of Henry Kissinger (2001). Falk reminded readers that Hitchens listed six major crimes carried out by Kissinger: 1) The deliberate mass killing of the civilian population in Indochina. 2) Deliberate collusion in mass murder, and later in assassination in …

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