Author: M Barbu

Stoking Resentment Obscures Foreign Agendas

Italy’s new far-right leader, Giorgia Meloni, is attracting an unlikely African fan base. One would imagine that her xenophobic rhetoric, in which she claims there is a conspiracy to replace native-born Italians with immigrants and advocates for a naval blockade of North Africa, would trigger some discomfort on the continent. But her willingness to attack France, on prominent display in a speech from 2018 making the rounds on social media, has some circles celebrating Meloni as a truth-teller and self-styled “liberator.” This surprising turn of events is yet another example of how powerful a political tool longstanding resentment of the status quo can be, and how those resentments can act as a smokescreen for those who amplify them..

Vente de concessions pétrolières et gazières en RDC : attention danger !

Alors que les ministres de l’Environnement du monde entier se retrouvent à Kinshasa, ce 3 octobre, pour préparer la COP27, Human Rights Watch alerte sur les nombreux risques des activités de forage.

Le 28 juillet, le gouvernement de la République démocratique du Congo a lancé un appel d’offres pour les droits d’exploitation de 27 blocs pétroliers, et trois blocs de gaz méthane. Le même jour, les Nations unies reconnaissaient le droit à un environnement propre, sain et durable.

Hydrocarbures : la Turquie va explorer les eaux libyennes

Un mémorandum signé entre Tripoli et Ankara prévoit de « développer des projets liés à l’exploration, la production et le transport de pétrole et de gaz ».

La Libye et la Turquie ont signé le 3 octobre un accord de prospection d’hydrocarbures dans les eaux libyennes, trois ans après avoir conclu un accord de délimitation maritime controversé qui avait suscité l’ire de l’Union européenne (UE). « Nous avons signé un mémorandum d’entente pour la prospection d’hydrocarbures dans les eaux territoriales de la Libye ainsi que sur le sol libyen par des compagnies turco-libyennes mixtes », a déclaré le chef de la diplomatie turque Mevlüt Çavusoglu, lors d’un point presse avec son homologue libyenne Najla al-Mangoush.

Thinking About the Unthinkable in Ukraine

What Happens If Putin Goes Nuclear?

As the war in Ukraine rages on, Russian President Vladimir Putin has engaged in nuclear saber rattling. “Whoever tries to impede us, let alone create threats for our country and its people, must know that the Russian response will be immediate and lead to the consequences you have never seen in history,” Putin declared in February in the first of many statements warning of a potential nuclear strike. For the most part, Western observers have dismissed this talk as idle chest-thumping. After all, whichever side fired nuclear weapons first would be taking a very risky gamble: betting that its opponent would not retaliate in an equal or more damaging way. That is why the odds are very low that sane leaders would actually start a process of trading blows that could end in the destruction of their own countries. When it comes to nuclear weapons, however, very low odds are not good enough.

China Has Lost India

How Beijing’s Aggression Pushed New Delhi to the West

In June 2020, the Chinese and Indian militaries clashed in the Galwan Valley, a rugged and remote area along the disputed border between the two countries. Twenty Indian and at least four Chinese soldiers were killed, and debate flared about the long-term implications of the skirmishes. Some analysts believed the Sino-Indian relationship would soon return to normal, with regular high-level meetings, increased Chinese investment in India, defense exchanges, and multilateral coordination. Record-high bilateral trade and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s trip to India in March 2022 seemed to support the notion that the two countries could set aside the border dispute and keep strengthening ties. So, too, did Chinese and Indian officials’ agreement in September to pull back from confrontational positions along one of the sections of the border in the Ladakh region where the militaries had been facing off since 2020.

The Downside of Imperial Collapse   

When Empires or Great Powers Fall, Chaos and War Rise

Wars are historical hinges. And misbegotten wars, when serving as culmination points of more general national decline, can be fatal. This is particularly true for empires. The Habsburg empire, which ruled over central Europe for hundreds of years, might have lingered despite decades of decay were it not for its defeat in World War I. The same is true of the Ottoman Empire, which since the mid-nineteenth century was referred to as “the sick man of Europe.” As it happened, the Ottoman Empire, like the Habsburg one, might have struggled on for decades, and even re-formed, were it not for also being on the losing side in World War I.