February 27, 2025 Balkans, Eurasia, Serbia
Defying two of the three Great Powers with the greatest influence over Serbia was an epic error of judgement, hence Vucic’s unbelievable claim about some vague “mistake” being responsible for this. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic claimed that his country mistakenly voted in support of an anti-Russian resolution at the UNGA, …
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February 27, 2025 Eurasia, Middle Orient
Trump’s remarks on annexing territory and recognizing Russian and Israeli territorial gains may align with his geopolitical ambitions, but the disruption to longstanding norms of fixed borders sets a risky precedent. Amid ongoing discussions over Donald Trump’s plans for trying to resolve conflicts in Ukraine and Israel, the U.S. president …
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February 27, 2025 Eurasia
Media coverage of America’s recent talks with Russia in Saudi Arabia focussed almost exclusively on the prospects for a ceasefire in Ukraine. Russia and the U.S. probably want different outcomes from the talks. But President Trump is better placed to reach a deal with President Putin that he was in …
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February 27, 2025 Eurasia, Iran, Middle Orient
Iran won’t engage in any direct negotiations with the US as long as the Islamic Republic is subject to pressures, sanctions and threats, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi stressed. Speaking at a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart in Tehran on Tuesday, Araqchi said Iran’s stance on the nuclear negotiations …
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February 27, 2025 Eurasia
A few weeks ago, rare earth elements, critical minerals, and other natural resources seemed like just one more factor in efforts to end Russia’s war on Ukraine. Now they are front and center, a dominant focus of U.S. talks with Kyiv and a prominent vein of the intensifying diplomacy that …
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February 27, 2025 Eurasia, Middle Orient
Despite a Sunni majority in Syria, the Assad regime has managed to maintain its dominance through a combination of autocratic and kleptocratic rule, using patronage to secure loyalty. On 8 December 2024, following a 10-day uprising, Bashar al-Assad, son of Hafez al-Assad, was brought down along with the entire Assad …
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February 27, 2025 Eurasia
In his sudden haste to see Ukraine repay the US for the billions of dollars appropriated by Congress to the country in its war against Russian aggression, Donald Trump, aka “Mr. Art of the Deal,” has deployed his tactless “Trumplomacy” with its attendant extortive strongarm tactics to gain access to …
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February 27, 2025 Eurasia
Exposing the superficial religious attitude, the prophet Isaiah recorded: “This people draw near to me with their mouths and honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” (Isaiah 29:13) This piercing critique cuts through the veneer of hollow devotion like a knife through butter, revealing a …
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February 27, 2025 Eurasia, Middle Orient
It has the feeling of a ghastly ending, one pushed along by desperation and eagerness. First, levelling Gaza and turning it to an uninhabitable moonscape, with the promise of a territory free of Palestinians. Then, displacing and destroying the already precarious holdings of Palestinian residents in the West Bank, all …
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February 27, 2025 Eurasia
The Country Is Open to Talks but Will Fight a Forced Deal Since his return to office in late January, U.S. President Donald Trump has made clear he wants to end the war in Ukraine as quickly as he can, irrespective of what that means for Ukrainians. Breaking with the …
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