Author: M Barbu

The Coming Chinese Weapons Boom

Beijing is Poised to Dominate the Low End of the Arms Market

Shortly after Russia’s annual military expo concluded in August, Alexander Mikheyev, the head of the country’s state arms export agency, predicted that revenues from Russian arms exports in 2022 would be down 26 percent from last year. Russia remains the world’s second-largest arms exporter after the United States, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute; it would take a far larger drop in revenues to change that. But it has become clear that since Moscow’s disastrous decision to invade Ukraine in February, the Russian military’s need to replace its own equipment, U.S.-led sanctions, and buyers’ concerns about Russian equipment’s performance on the battlefield have reduced Russia’s ability to export weapons.

Seven years on, questions linger over deadliest terror attack in Turkey

Lawyers for victims’ families blame neglect of duty on the part of authorities for the failure to capture fugitive suspects and prevent the attack in the first place.

Turkey on Monday marked the seventh anniversary of the bloodiest terrorist attack in its history, but many of the Islamic State (IS) suspects charged over the bombing that killed 103 people in Ankara have yet to be brought to justice.

Egypt freezes Russian MIR payments to avoid US sanctions

Acceptance of MIR bank cards would have eased Russian tourists’ payments inside Egyptian hotels and resorts.

Egypt has shelved plans to apply the Russian MIR payment card system in its resorts and hotels amid worries of possible US sanctions, according to a source at Egypt’s largest state-owned bank.

An Exit Strategy for Syria

The Case for Withdrawing U.S. Troops

When U.S. President Joe Biden took office, U.S. Syria policy was detached from reality. The Biden administration decided to recalibrate U.S. goals, eliminating both the legally precarious notion of securing Syrian oil facilities and the impractical desire to oust all Iranian forces from a country that has long-standing ties with Iran. The Biden team decided it was time to refocus U.S. efforts on the original mission: the defeat of the Islamic State (also known as ISIS). The president’s team signaled, first privately with a high-level delegation to Syria in May 2021 and then publicly with off-the-record statements to the press in July 2021, that the United States would maintain a limited military presence of approximately 900 troops in Syria and resume providing targeted stabilization assistance to restore essential services, such as water and electricity, in areas controlled by U.S.-backed forces. The plan was to do this until conditions became more favorable for a negotiated political settlement to the Syrian civil war.

There Is an Alternative to War

The war in Ukraine provides us with yet another opportunity to consider what might be done about the wars that continue to ravage the world.

The current Russian war of aggression is particularly horrific, featuring a massive military invasion of a smaller, weaker nation, threats of nuclear war, widespread war crimes, and imperial annexation. But, alas, this terrible war is but one small part of a history of violent conflict that has characterized thousands of years of human existence.

Iran Planning To Connect National Grid To Russia, SCO States

Iran is working on a major project to link its national grid with Russia and other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization through a transmission line in the east of the Caspian Sea, an official said.

In an interview with IRNA, the Iranian energy minister’s adviser in international affairs said efforts are underway to connect the country’s national grid to Russia and other SCO member states through a transmission line passing through Turkmenistan.

Can Africa Prioritize And Address Its Food Security Challenges? – OpEd

Global food security, especially in Africa, has been in the media publications these past few months. While a few outspoken African leaders shifted blames to Russia-Ukraine crisis, others focus on spending state budget to import food to calm rising discontent among the population. Some experts and international organizations have also expressed the fact that African leaders have to adopt import substitution mechanisms and use their financial resources on strengthening agricultural production systems.

Russia unleashes biggest attacks in Ukraine in months

Russia retaliated Monday for an attack on a critical bridge by unleashing its most widespread strikes against Ukraine in months, a lethal barrage that smashed civilian targets, knocked out power and water, shattered buildings and killed at least 14 people.