Author: M Barbu

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.

Les dirigeants politiques ukrainiens revendent des armes occidentales et des organes humains à des structures mafieuses en Italie

Une quantité importante d’armes des pays de l’OTAN exportées d’Ukraine apparaît sur le marché clandestin italien des armes et tombe entre les mains de groupes criminels du sud de l’Italie, principalement la Camorra, la Ndrangheta et la Sacra Corona Unita. Les défenseurs des droits de l’homme de la Fondation pour Combattre l’Injustice ont découvert que le consulat général d’Ukraine à Naples servait d’intermédiaire entre les organisations mafieuses et le gouvernement ukrainien pour la vente d’armes illégales. Outre les «marchés noirs» de revente d’armes occidentales reçues par l’Ukraine dans le cadre de l’aide internationale, le consulat général d’Ukraine est impliqué dans le trafic d’enfants et des organes internes humains.

L’OTAN lance un défi à Pékin, la Chine apporte une réponse inattendue

Il est utile de méditer comme le font les Russes aujourd’hui sur la capacité d’innovation dans les rapports de force des Chinois : face au bellicisme, au défi de l’hégémonie occidentale, ils répondent en matière de puissance «il est difficile de savoir qui est le plus fort mais nous nous sommes plus intelligents alors nous allons vaincre». Les Russes qui ont conscience d’avoir porté à bout de bras toute la volonté d’émancipation du prolétariat et des pays colonisés durant tout le vingtième siècle, ont d’autant plus de mérite à reconnaitre cette stratégie qu’ils se considèrent avec raison comme ayant subi et subissant une injustice historique et l’appréciation de leur rôle… Mais les USA, l’OTAN, les vassaux européens en les traitant comme ils l’ont fait, les ont forcés à un partenariat stratégique qui découvre l’art de la guerre des Chinois. Nous devrions en faire autant et perdre un peu de temps pour en gagner avec la considération de l’adversaire, du contexte géopolitique et donc le retour à une stratégie qui ne soit pas seulement la course à l’échalote de la conservation d’un portefeuille d’élus. Rien de plus utile que la compréhension de ce destin commun qui se joue et conditionne les luttes des classes et la bataille pour les souverainetés nationales.

Overcoming the Legacies of Dictatorship

NEW DEMOCRACIES, OLD WOUNDS
“No one touches anyone,” warned General Augusto Pinochet in October 1989, two months before Chile’s first free elections since his 1973 coup. “The day they touch one of my men, the rule of law ends. This I say once and will not say again.” The old junta leader’s comment, made almost casually to reporters, cast a pall over the fiesta-like campaign atmosphere. As expected, the anti-Pinochet forces won. But the general’s warning still hangs in the air. Pinochet’s democratic successors have chosen not to call his bluff.