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Live Updates: Russia Invades Ukraine, Putin Launches Large-scale Attacks

Russian troops launched their anticipated attack on Ukraine on Thursday, as President Vladimir Putin cast aside international condemnation and sanctions and warned other countries that any attempt to interfere would lead to “consequences you have never seen.” Russian forces fired missiles at several Ukrainian cities and landed troops on its …

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Sudan moves ahead with Israel ties

Tel Aviv continues to exchange visits with the contested authorities in Khartoum and deepen their security cooperation, in line with the coup generals’ allies in the Gulf and Egypt. Dressed in traditional attire — a long, loose-fitting white robe and matching headdress — the head of Sudan’s contested Sovereign Council …

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Erdogan not giving up on gas from Iraqi Kurdistan

Erdogan appears bent on advancing energy deals with Iraqi Kurdistan, even as a gas project remains bogged down by legal, technical and financial snags. The Iraqi Supreme Court’s Feb. 15 ruling that proclaimed Iraqi Kurdistan’s oil and gas law unconstitutional has cast a shadow on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s …

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Ukraine crisis exposes Turkey’s limits

The Ukraine crisis has exposed Ankara’s limits on foreign policy, yet Turkey’s President Erdogan can still score points from rapprochement with the UAE and Israel. As Western capitals scramble to stop further Russian advancement into Ukraine — after the Kremlin’s decision to recognize the sovereignty of two breakaway territories in …

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Greece Is Reshaping the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Developments in the Eastern Mediterranean region are unfolding at a breakneck pace. Blink an eye and one is bound to miss a new multilateral initiative, an impressive military exercise or even the creation of an international organization. Greece is very much in the middle of this diplomatic and military frenzy, …

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How Europe Maneuvered Itself Into an Energy Crisis

Four years ago, at a Track II dialogue between German and American diplomats and analysts, a German colleague of mine explained his firm belief that his country—and, by extension, Europe as a whole—could use geoeconomic tools to regulate and blunt Russia’s geopolitical ambitions. Europe’s need for natural gas, he said, …

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Belarus joins Putin’s new Russian empire

If any doubts remained about Vladimir Putin’s intentions to restore at least part of the old Soviet empire, they should have been dispelled this week when Belarus announced that the estimated 30,000 Russian troops currently in the country would remain there indefinitely. The Russian forces are in Belarus ostensibly for …

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