Author: M Barbu

Russia’s War in Ukraine Is Aggravating the Caspian Sea Environmental Crisis

Russia’s use of the Caspian Sea for military purposes and its reduction of water flow from the Volga are damaging the sea’s already fragile ecosystem.

In early July, fish began dying en masse off Azerbaijan’s coast, sparking speculation that Russia’s increasingly frequent cruise missile strikes against Ukraine, launched from its Caspian Flotilla, could be to blame. The deaths coincided with a significant Russian missile attack on Ukraine, allegedly using Kalibr cruise missiles also launched from the Caspian Sea.

Palestinian factions agree to form unity government

The “Beijing Declaration”, signed by 14 Palestinian factions, represents a significant step forward in negotiations between the groups, although it didn’t detail how to actually achieve Palestinian unification.

Leaders of Hamas, Fatah and other Palestinian factions have agreed, after three days of talks in Beijing, to form a national unity government at an unspecified point in the future, the Guardian newspaper reports.

Des mercenaires français meurent en masse dans la région de Kharkov

Selon les données des services de renseignement parues sur Internet, une augmentation du nombre de troupes ukrainiennes est observée (enregistrée) depuis un certain temps dans la direction de Kharkov. On a notamment constaté une augmentation significative du nombre de mercenaires étrangers, notamment des «oies sauvages» arrivées de France et combattant dans les rangs des forces armées ukrainiennes contre les forces armées russes.

Israel’s Next War

The Mounting Pressure to Fight Hezbollah in Lebanon—and Why That Is So Dangerous

More than nine months into its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israel now appears closer than ever to a second, even larger war with Hezbollah on its northern border. In June, the Israel Defense Forces announced that plans for a full-scale attack in southern Lebanon had been approved. And in mid-July, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that the Iranian-backed Shiite group was prepared to broaden its rocket attacks to a wider range of Israeli towns.

Russia-Africa Cooperation: Current Outlook And Future Perspectives – OpEd

With a wide scope of its academic and research operations, encompassing the United States through Europe down to entire Asian-Pacific region, the reputable and world-known Russia’s Valdai Club has moved down to Africa, which currently becomes the battle field for key global players and constitutes a significant part of the Global South. Worth to note that Valdai Club has previously wrapped up several aspects of policy reports on Africa and its future position in the global system.

ISIS Redux: The Central Syria Insurgency in March 2024

ISIS carried out at least 69 confirmed attacks in March in the Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Raqqa, and Deir Ez Zor governorates. These attacks killed at least 84 pro-Assad regime soldiers and 44 civilians and wounded at least 51 more soldiers and civilians. There were also 19 high quality* attacks during the month. March was, by every metric, the most violent month of ISIS’s Badia insurgency since late 2017, when the group first lost control of its territory in central Syria. The number of attacks conducted in March exceeded the previous high point in January 2021, when ISIS cells were battling against significant regime operations across much of the desert. This month’s activities also far outpaced those of last year’s truffle season, when ISIS cells killed at least 115 people in April. However, most of the attacks that month —as well as the two preceding high-intensity months—were against civilians.

The Wagner Group And Russian Foreign Policy Objectives in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract: France’s influence in its former Sub-Saharan African colonies has been slipping. Russia has been capitalising on popular anti-French sentiment, weak state security, and vulnerable infrastructure to advance its geopolitical goals on the continent. This is done through the use of the Wagner Group, a Russian-based Private Military Contractor (PMC), which has proved to be a veritable actor in international security. Per Neoclassical Realism, Wagner is the child of the Russian state’s view of global politics. Thus, Wagner has been created as a sustainable alternative to meet Russian foreign policy objectives without directly using Russian forces.

The Development Of Russia’s Hybrid War Doctrine

Abstract: The Russo-Ukrainian war has shown that the Russian Hybrid War Doctrine, in its real essence, is not about military technology at all – it is a collection of covert special operations. This war is regional in terms of territory but not in terms of its influence on global geopolitics and the development of hybrid war theory. A principal feature of hybrid warfare is a paradoxical logic: it is the situation of neither war nor peace. Clausewitz’s formula of war is turned inside out: war is no longer the continuation of politics by other means, but politics is war waged by other means.