The recent outbreak of open conflict between Iran and Israel has upended the notional strategic stability of the ‘shadow war’ between the two, and it is possible that a return to the status quo will be harder to achieve than expected.
“The idea struck me to introduce the concept of a fatwa [during the 2004 nuclear] negotiations. There was no coordination [in advance],” Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator at the time recounted eight years after the incident. This was nothing short of a stroke of genius in shaping a false narrative about the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, which was delivered by a cleric who eventually rose in the ranks and became a two-term president (2013–2021): Hassan Rouhani.
Was Xi Jinping’s first trip to Europe in five years a success? It certainly appeared that Xi’s visits to France, Serbia and Hungary, which had both a trade and a political agenda, were successful for the Chinese leader. Can we say the same for France, the EU or Europe? Well, there is not a straight or single answer. And this by itself unveils some of Europe’s grave contradictions on important geopolitical, security and trade issues.
In a statement made on May 1, 2024, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan – Kasym Jomart Tokayev welcomed the agreement between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia to hold negotiations at the level of foreign ministers to prepare a peace treaty, at the initiative of the Kazakh side.
Ukraine is short of artillery and other hardware – and the Balkan countries can help fill important gaps.
The Western Balkans face a multi-faceted threat from Russia, either through its allies in the region or through hybrid threats coming from Russia itself.
The timing of President Xi Jinping’s visit to Belgrade yesterday was far from accidental: exactly 25 years before, Nato forces bombed the city’s Chinese embassy during Operation Allied Force, the two-and-half month campaign against what was then the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Amid escalating regional tensions since October 7 last year and reports of American contemplations of troop withdrawal from Syria, the US administration should reassess its Syria policy, and consider a long-term, minimalist presence coupled with robust political and diplomatic efforts in the interest of regional security and peace.
The Islamic State (IS) is a transnational Sunni Islamist insurgent and terrorist group. At its 2015 height, the group controlled large areas of Iraq and Syria from which it launched attacks in the region and beyond. While the group no longer controls territory outright in Syria and Iraq, U.S. military officials warn that it continues to operate and has worked to expand its global presence through affiliates in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
Just like the Azov Battalion and other ultra-nationalists played a key role in the spree of urban terrorism known as EuroMaidan despite their small numbers, so too does the Georgian Legion envisage doing the same in Tbilisi nowadays.
The Georgian State Security Service strongly implied that the Georgian Legion is behind the latest Western-backed regime change attempt. In their words, “These criminal plans involve Georgian nationals currently based abroad, including some Georgians fighting in Ukraine”, and are financed from overseas. This follows Georgian Legion leader Mamuka Mamulashvili accusing them of being controlled by Russia, which he claims turned Georgia into a puppet state, and embedding its spies within his ranks.
Fascism became a swear word in the US and UK during the Second World War. It has been ever since, to the point that the content of the term has been drained away completely. It is not a system of political economy but an insult.