Recent Posts

Four big geopolitical tests the European Union faces this year

At the risk of making too obvious of a point, 2019 is not 2023. In 2019, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen entered office promising a “geopolitical Commission.” Since then, the European Union (EU) has faced one geopolitical crisis after another—a pandemic, a war in Europe, and intensifying energy …

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A Cry for Help from Palestinians

The two events — in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon — received little attention from the international community and media, most likely because Israel was not involved. Needless to say, the United Nations Security Council was not asked to hold an emergency session to discuss the crimes committed by Palestinians …

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Iran, Pakistan Foreign Ministers Discuss Expanding Cooperation

Iranian and Pakistani Foreign Ministers Hossein Amirabdollahian and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari emphasized enhancing all-round relations and developing economic cooperation and bilateral trade. Amirabdollahian highlighted the need to finalize agreements on exchanging prisoners and addressing unauthorized border crossings. The Iranian top diplomat emphasized the importance of implementing the positive agreements achieved …

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Suspensions, Detentions, and Mutinies: the Growing Gulf in Russia’s Civil-Military Relations

Suspensions, Detentions, and Mutinies: the Growing Gulf in Russia’s Civil-Military RelationsThe war in Ukraine is challenging the military’s established role in Russian domestic affairs, politicizing the armed forces, and reducing their privileged autonomy in waging war and developing the defense sector.Russian civil-military relations are in crisis. Last month, the Wagner …

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The Faux Ideologies of Late-Stage Putinism

Imagining history as a civilizational competition is convenient for the current Russian leadership because it means they can perceive themselves as part of a young civilization and, as such, they don’t need to calculate risks, invest in the economy, or conduct a reasonable foreign policy. Youth is forgiven everything, and …

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Democracy Digest: Orban’s Speech Riles the Neighbours

Elsewhere, Poland continues to talk tough over preventing Ukrainian grain from flooding its market; radicalised Czech pensioners rise up, again; Slovak paediatricians to no longer take on shifts in children’s emergency rooms from next week. Hungarian PM Viktor Orban did not make the international headlines with this year’s speech in …

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