Author: M Barbu

What Russia’s Elites Think of Putin Now

The president successfully preserved the status quo for two decades. Suddenly, he’s turned into a destroyer.

Ukraine’s successful counterattack means that for the first time ever in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 22 years in power, he has to deal with elites who disagree with him—on strategic decisions over Russia’s war in Ukraine and how the war may end. Having launched the war not just without any internal discussions, but without even informing key players, Putin has taken huge risks politically. If the war were going well, that gamble would have paid off, but today, as Ukraine is counterattacking and Russia is retreating, questions about Putin’s decisions are mounting. There are fears that Russia may lose outright. If the president fails to convince the elites that he remains a strong leader with a clear understanding of where he is taking the country, uncertainty may become a significant political risk to Putin’s regime.

What Do Americans Care About? Not a Cold War With Russia and China

The Biden administration will soon release its National Security Strategy, which is being revised in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The document will no doubt trigger a renewed debate about how the United States should gear up for a new Cold War against Russia and China. But before we plunge into a global great-power competition, it’s worth recalling President Biden’s promise to create a “foreign policy for the middle class” and take a look at what most concerns Americans.

Ukraine War: Still a Cuban Missile Crisis in Slow Motion

Russia’s use of tactical nuclear weapons could trigger a cataclysmic nuclear exchange.

Thousands of demonstrators join Fridays for Future’s global day of action to stand with Ukraine by walking down Willy-Brandt-Strasse, a main thoroughfare in Hamburg, Germany.

Le refoulement des migrants s’intensifie en Algérie

Plus de 600 migrants d’Afrique centrale et de l’ouest sont arrivés le 17 septembre dans le nord du Niger après avoir été refoulés par l’Algérie.

Repoussés, ces migrants ont rejoint la ville nigérienne d’Assamaka, située non loin la frontière algérienne. L’Algérie aurait expulsé depuis 2014 des dizaines de milliers de migrants irréguliers originaires d’Afrique de l’Ouest et centrale, selon les Nations unies.

L’Afrique de l’Ouest utilise de plus en plus de drones contre les groupes terroristes

Depuis janvier, le Burkina Faso utilise des drones armés, ayant passé, comme ses voisins – le Togo et le Niger – commande en 2021 pour des Bayraktar TB2, de construction turque. La plupart des drones armés utilisés en Afrique sont produits par des partenaires du Sud, comme la Turquie, la Chine ou encore l’Iran. Et s’ils sont de plus en plus visibles dans les cieux, de la Corne de l’Afrique jusqu’au Sahel, ces déploiements ne suffiront pas à changer la donne face à la menace terroriste, selon des experts.

As Part Of Iran’s Ongoing Policy Of Deploying Its Afghan Shi’ite Militia Across Middle East, IRGC Reportedly Training Fatemiyoun Brigade In Drone Use In Syria

On September 4, 2022, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the Iran-backed Afghan Shi’ite militia, the Fatemiyoun Brigade, had begun training its fighters to operate drones at the airport at Palmyra in Syria.[1] The Syrian opposition website also noted that officials from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were training the militia.

Coups in the Kremlin

What the History of Russia’s Power Struggles Says About Putin’s Future

Russian President Vladimir Putin has lost touch with reality. He has declared a partial mobilization to reverse his defeats in Ukraine and, signaling his desperation, ratcheted up Russia’s nuclear saber rattling. Each day the war drags on, his country grows more isolated from the rest of the world. Increasingly, Russia depends on China to keep its economy from collapsing under the weight of sanctions, even as Chinese leaders express doubts about the invasion. Russia’s failure to take Kyiv, and its recent reversals in the Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine, have led even pro-Putin commentators to question his decisions. Against this backdrop, it makes sense that many Russians are starting to ask how much longer Putin can stay in power and pursue his barbarous war. The handful of municipal deputies who boldly petitioned Putin to resign publicly expressed what many in the Russian political elite are privately pondering. Surely, it seems, someone in the murky halls of the Kremlin will decide that he must go.

The Alternate History of China

Could Beijing Have Taken a Different Path?

On a visit to China in the summer of 1988, I encountered a widespread sense of drift and despair. The official inflation rate at 18.5 percent, and the actual rate was probably higher. State statistics said that 21 percent of urban workers had suffered a decline in living standards. In big cities, residents needed to routinely pay bribes if they wanted phone lines, electricity service, mail deliveries, or medical attention. Intellectuals were criticizing China’s political leaders, its political system, and even its national culture and national character. “Nineteen-eighty-eight ushered in a season of discontent that is perhaps unique in China’s post-revolutionary history,” I wrote in an article published later that year.