March 1, 2024 Eurasia, Romania
An extraordinary parliamentary session in Transnistria was a bid to attract international attention and a signal that the de facto state is ready to escalate. The longer the war in Ukraine continues, the more confident neighboring Moldova’s authorities feel in their long-running conflict with the breakaway state of Transnistria. Moldova …
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March 1, 2024 Eurasia
A little while back, I challenged a group of graduate students to find one article in the New York Times written in the last five years that had anything favorable to say about Russia. Their extensive research turned up one article published in 2021 that described the beneficial effects of …
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March 1, 2024 Eurasia, Middle Orient
WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating members of a smuggling network that helps fund Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and the Houthis in Yemen. Led by Iran-based Houthi financier Sa’id al-Jamal, this network generates tens of millions …
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March 1, 2024 Eurasia
As the full-scale war in Ukraine enters its third year, Russia has doubled down on its worldwide efforts to undermine Kyiv’s international standing in an attempt to erode Western support and domestic Ukrainian morale. Years of close monitoring of not only state-sponsored media such as Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik, …
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February 29, 2024 Eurasia
What’s regarded as the worst-case scenario from the perspective of the ruling Ukrainian elite and their Western masters is the best-case scenario for the rest of the world. In the event that Zelensky is deposed and peace talks immediately resume right as Russia breaks through the Line of Contact, then …
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February 29, 2024 Eurasia, Middle Orient, Turkey
Summary:Turkey’s dependence on energy imports has an impact on the country’s economic and geopolitical orientation. Turkish leaders should devise energy policies that respond to domestic priorities, regional ambitions, and the challenges posed by climate change. Turkey has an energy dependence problem. For the past two decades, Ankara’s energy needs have …
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February 29, 2024 Balkans, Eurasia
The situation in Kosovo, which declared its independence from Serbia in 2008 and has a substantial ethnic Serb minority, has been complex due to Serbia’s continued claim that Kosovo is its territory in open rebellion. The deadly gunfight between Kosovo police and Serb paramilitaries in April 2023, and the discovery …
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February 29, 2024 Eurasia
The US-UK special relationship, one of the longest and closest bilateral relationships of the twentieth century, is often questioned by those who fail to see the benefits that it provides to both sides. The United States benefits from being able to work through British counterparts in many parts of the …
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February 29, 2024 Eurasia, Middle Orient
February 24 this year marks the second anniversary of the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war. In the past century, after experiencing two world wars and boasting significant advancements in civilization, human society has once again witnessed a large-scale war persisting for two years since the beginning of the 21st century. …
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February 24, 2024 Eurasia, Iran, Middle Orient
Iran and the Houthis are likely using their attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to test and refine their approach to striking naval targets. Houthi leader Abdulmalik al Houthi stated on February 22 that the group will “escalate” its operations targeting shipping around the Red Sea.[i] …
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