April 16, 2021 Eurasia, Middle Orient, Turkey
Fiddling with the delicate balance of power in the Black Sea might leave Turkey in a worse squeeze between Russia and the United States. Is Turkey on course to abandon its traditional balancing act between Russia and NATO in the Black Sea region? Ankara’s posture in the Ukraine-Russia standoff, coupled …
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April 15, 2021 Afghanistan, Eurasia, South East Asia
President Joe Biden has announced his decision to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11 — 20 years to the day after the Al-Qaeda terrorist attacks on the United States that triggered the conflict. “It is time to end America’s longest war,” Biden said during a speech at …
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April 15, 2021 Balkans, Eurasia
With no clear route to a parliamentary majority following an election in Bulgaria, outgoing Prime Minister Boyko Borissov may yet defy the odds. Post-election Bulgaria is fast starting to resemble an endless riddle of political ‘what-ifs’. Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s path to a third term is strewn with obstacles after …
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April 15, 2021 South East Asia
The global coronavirus pandemic has done little to stop adversaries, especially China, from targeting the United States and making gains at the country’s expense, according to a newly unveiled U.S. intelligence assessment. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) issued the declassified 27-page report Tuesday, a day before …
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April 15, 2021 Africa, Eurasia
Greece and Libya have agreed to hold talks on marking out their maritime zones in the Mediterranean, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday, after a meeting with the president of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohamed al-Menfi.
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April 15, 2021 Eurasia, Iran, Middle Orient
Admission of scale of damage at Natanz casts doubts on Tehran’s ability to ramp up uranium enrichment to 60%, as threatened; Israeli report says whole plant still out of commission A senior Iranian official confirmed Tuesday that the blast at the Natanz nuclear facility, which Tehran blames on Israel, destroyed …
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April 15, 2021 Eurasia, Iran, Middle Orient
Iranian envoy to UN atomic agency says Islamic Republic will start enriching at previously unseen levels by next week Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that Tehran’s decision to boost uranium enrichment to 60 percent was a response to Israel’s “nuclear terrorism,” three days after an attack on its Natanz …
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April 15, 2021 Africa
Following Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin’s approval last month of a new naval base to be built on Sudan’s Red Sea coast, official Kremlin statements have billed the facility as a logistics center that will be defensive in nature—for principal use as a resupply station for Russian warships. In spite …
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April 15, 2021 South East Asia
China is expanding its amphibious military capabilities with an aim to “project power far from home,” Reuters reported this week, posing a challenge to America’s naval dominance. For decades, China’s main aspiration for its military was to secure its borders and dominate its coastal waters. But recent evidence suggests that …
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April 15, 2021 Middle Orient
French President Emmanuel Macron has clearly decided to up the ante in a standoff with Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean, where France is backing Greece and Cyprus in their dispute with Ankara over natural gas reserves and maritime boundaries. First, Macron ordered a temporary reinforcement of French aerial and naval …
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