While the U.S. warns that Russia could invade Ukraine any day, the drumbeat of war is all but unheard in Moscow, where pundits and ordinary people alike don’t expect President Vladimir Putin to launch an attack on its ex-Soviet neighbor.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that he welcomed a security dialogue with the West, and his military reported pulling back some of its troops near Ukraine. But U.S. President Joe Biden said the U.S. had not verified Russia’s claim and that an invasion was still a distinct possibility.
For years, the world tried to soften the Taliban’s extremist ideology by exposing them to modernity. As an insurgency they learned diplomacy and negotiation tactics, but their medieval thinking remained just as rigid. Now that the Taliban rule over Afghanistan, the international community continues to appease them, assuming it can convince them to form an inclusive government and ease their regressive policies while alleviating the country’s worsening humanitarian disaster. That is a naïve assumption that overlooks the root causes of the current crisis. Not only will the international community not get what it wants, but it also risks creating a much greater crisis: a Taliban theocracy that institutionalizes its repressive rule at a steep human and economic cost.
Marvin G. Weinbaum
Director, Afghanistan and Pakistan Studies
After two years of failed diplomatic efforts, for a time it seemed there might be an agreement with the Taliban reached by the Ghani regime and its international backers, albeit one very different than a long-sought power-sharing arrangement. With Taliban forces bearing down on Kabul, discussions involving the entry of Taliban forces into the capital and the formation of an interim government were being conducted in Doha.
The Taliban, which have controlled the country since US troops evacuated at the end of August, said Monday in a statement that they will have to “reconsider its policy” toward the United States if the asset seizure ordered last week by US President Joe Biden is allowed to stand.
A high-level official delegation from Turkey will visit Israel this week as the two countries prepare for the planned visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog to Turkey and to discuss relations between the two countries, the Office of the President of Israel and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed in a joint statement on Tuesday.
In order to maintain its neutrality in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Israel has refused to sell the Iron Dome air defense system to Kyiv. The Ukrainian government officially requested last spring that the US deploy its MIM-104 Patriot anti-ballistic missile system, as well as the Iron Dome, on its territory.
En Afrique, d’Abidjan à Douala, une poignée d’irréductibles assureurs locaux résiste à l’assaut des poids lourds panafricains et internationaux, dans une période propice aux fusions-acquisitions.
Il aurait fallu barrière plus infranchissable pour que Bertrand Casteres, le directeur général du groupe mauricien d’assurances Mauritius Union Assurance (MUA), rebrousse chemin. Rendez-vous était pris de longue date pour venir négocier, à Paris, les ultimes détails du partenariat censé donner un nouvel élan à son groupe, fondé en 1948. Alors, en ce mois de juillet 2021, même si le vaccin contre le Covid-19 qui lui a été administré à Port-Louis quelques mois auparavant n’est pas reconnu par les autorités européennes, qu’à cela ne tienne : le quadragénaire en fait un deuxième, reconnu celui-là, pour pouvoir prendre l’avion. La conclusion d’une affaire vaut bien une double injection…
A leaked report has revealed details about how the jihadi group used Turkey to traffic money and obtain supplies.
Shortly after the Islamic State’s (IS’s) leader was killed in a Syrian hideout near the Turkish border, a leaked report by Turkey’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) revealed details about how the jihadi group used the country to traffic money and obtain supplies, including drone parts.