Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent shock waves round the world. As our look ahead to 2023 shows, several other crises loom as well.
Will he or won’t he? This time last year, that was the question. Russian President Vladimir Putin had massed almost two hundred thousand troops on Ukraine’s borders. U.S. intelligence warned that Russia was preparing for all-out war. All the signs pointed to an assault, bar one: it seemed unthinkable.
In the last few days, Damascus put forward conditions for continuing talks with Ankara, according to Asharq al-Awsat.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed developments in Syria in a phone call on Monday.
Syrians are move to camps described as “large prisons” in southern Turkey, where they are persuaded to return to Syria, according to Syria TV.
The pace of deportation of Syrian refugees from Turkey to northern Syria has increased during the past year, and the selection of deportees was semi-random. Most of the deportees hold temporary protection cards (Kimlik, in Turkish) and work permits.
Syria said that the Syrian Army repulsed on Wednesday a terrorist attack in the southern countryside of Idleb, according to Tishreen.
The Ministry of Defense said that units of the Syrian Army repulsed on Wednesday a terrorist attack in the southern countryside of Idleb.
Local networks reported that the assassination of Amer al-Nassar took place on Sunday, according to Enab Baladi.
Amer al-Nassar, nicknamed “The Colonel,” a militia commander in Daraa, was killed by direct fire while he was in a house in the city of al-Hara, northwest of Daraa.
Rumors about the arrest of figures from the Qaterji family are the result of rivalry among warlords, according to Enab Baladi.
The rumors of the detention of the heads of the Qaterji family and the seizure of their companies have not been a secret in the past months in anticipation of a fate similar to that of Rami Makhlouf.
The Turkish-Syrian rapprochement is back on the surface after the meeting between Turkey’s Foreign Minister Cavusoglu and Secretary of State Blinken in Washington. On the other hand, the military threats have come back, and the Kurds in northeast Syria are still concerned about that. Syria, in the meanwhile, is angry because of the U.S. meddling in the Syrian media.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s visit to the United States this week has witnessed an ironic twist, with Turkey and the United States reversing their positions over the NATO enlargement and Turkey’s bid for new F-16 fighter jets.
Germany faces the profound challenge of trying to diversify its energy supply while a destabilizing war rages on in Ukraine. Hence, the German government has entered into new energy partnerships with several Gulf monarchies — namely, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. The Gulf monarchies should not only be looked at as providers of energy, however; in an increasingly multipolar world, they are emerging as relevant global political powers in their own right. Therefore, they are of rising political and security relevance for Germany. Notwithstanding heated domestic debates over controversial topics such as these Gulf states’ human rights record, Berlin should thus consider a more comprehensive strategic approach toward the Gulf monarchies that encompasses strategic issues beyond energy supply, such as joint efforts in regional integration and development.
The current energy war between Russia and Europe predated, but was markedly intensified by, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The protagonists are deploying a range of energy weapons aimed at increasing the costs of escalation or remaining in Ukraine (for Russia) as well as of defying Russia’s actions in Ukraine (for Europe). These have upended global energy trade flows and increased energy prices in 2022 relative to the past several years; they have also impacted a wider range of non-energy goods and services as well as diplomatic ties.