Author: M Barbu

Evolving Trends in the Financing of Foreign Terrorist Fighters’ Activity: 2014 – 2024

In its resolution 2178 (2014), adopted unanimously on 24 September 2014, the Security Council expressed
particular concern over the acute and growing threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs),1 in particular those recruited by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or Da’esh), the Nusrah Front and other cells, affiliates, splinter groups or derivatives of Al-Qaida. It also expressed concern over the increased use of communication technology for the purpose of, inter alia, financing and facilitating the travel and subsequent activities of FTFs and underlined the need to disrupt financial flows supporting FTFs, while respecting international human rights law, international refugee law, and international humanitarian law. In that resolution, the Council also directed CTED to identify issues, trends and developments related to FTFs.

Syria Today – Israeli Strikes on Damascus; Iran Denies Reducing Forces in Syria

Two Israeli airstrikes struck Damascus and its suburb Qudsaya on Thursday, killing at least 15 people and injuring 16, as reported by AP via SANA, coinciding with Iranian official Ali Larijani’s visit to the capital. Israel stated the strikes targeted Islamic Jihad’s infrastructure, allegedly involved in recent conflicts with Israel. These airstrikes reflect escalating tensions, especially given the Syrian regime’s claims of civilian casualties and property damage in Mazzeh and Qudsaya. Meanwhile, Syria TV and SANA reported further Israeli operations on Hezbollah’s smuggling routes in Al-Qusayr, impacting supply chains into Lebanon and emphasizing Israel’s broader campaign against Iranian influence in Syria. Iran, denying reports of force reductions in Syria, reaffirmed its presence through senior advisor Ali Asghar Haji. This came after Russia’s envoy Alexander Lavrentiev clarified that Moscow opposes Israeli actions in Syria and denied the use of Russia’s Khmeimim base for weapons transit to Hezbollah. The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington published a report highlighting U.S.-led sanctions’ unintended effects, reinforcing Iran’s foothold in Syria and increasing Gulf-U.S. policy divergences. The report outlines regional frustration over sanctions that have deepened Syria’s economic crisis without shifting political conditions. In a separate development, CNN reported UN concerns over Israel’s activities along the Golan Heights buffer zone, where IDF excavation has breached a demilitarized area. The UN’s warning underscores the risks these operations pose to the longstanding ceasefire arrangement between Israel and Syria, maintained since 1974.

How China Escaped the Poverty Trap – by Yuen Yuen Ang

In “How China Escaped the Poverty Trap”, Yuen Yuen Ang provides a compelling analysis of China’s rapid economic transformation over recent decades. Rather than focusing on specific policies or economic theories, Ang emphasizes China’s unique approach to development. She argues that China’s success in escaping poverty and achieving significant economic growth was not simply a result of adopting Western-style economic reforms, but of implementing a distinctly Chinese strategy that allowed local innovation within the bounds of central control.

2084-The World as It Might Be (Or Do I Mean Might Have Been?)

Honestly, what would George Orwell have written about this planet of ours, four decades after that ominous year 1984 passed from his fiction into history?

And yes, in case you think that, as in his novel 1984, published in 1949, a year before his death and just as the Cold War (a term he was the first to use in an essay in October 1945) was getting underway, our world, too, seems to be heading for a nightmarish future, I suspect that — were he capable of returning to this planet of ours — he wouldn’t disagree with you for a moment. Phew! Sorry for such a long, complicated sentence, but little wonder given the way our world is now tying itself in knots. Yes, just last week, with the election of climate-change denier and (to steal from Orwell) our very own Big Brother Donald Trump as president of the United States (again!), we just paved the way for an instant all-American nightmare. Still, even without him, the world was anything but peachy keen.

Significance Of Mombasa Port For Chinese Outreach In Africa – Analysis

Africa has emerged as a pivotal partner in China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI), the maritime dimension of Beijing’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). One of the key footholds for Chinese inroads has been the Mombasa Port, located on Kenya’s south-eastern coast.

Mombasa—the largest and busiest port in East Africa—serves as a gateway for landlocked countries in Africa and is central to regional trade. Thus, it is imperative to examine how the port serves as a crucial node in China’s engagement with Africa and reflect on China’s broader geopolitical ambitions in the Western Indian Ocean.

The Hamas-Hezbollah-Iran-UN Axis Of Evil – OpEd

Incredibly few Palestinian civilian casualties in Israel’s war of survival – yet only Israel is condemned

On October 7, 2023, Hamas butchered 1,200 innocent people, maimed 5,400, kidnapped 250, and drove tens of thousands out of southern Israeli towns. The next day, to show solidarity with Hamas, Hezbollah began launching rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel, driving 80,000 from their homes.

Britain’s secret defence plan with Israel

The UK secretly developed a defence plan with Israel, Declassified can reveal.

According to leaked documents, the British project was codenamed HEZUK and designed to counter the “destabilising regional activity of Iran and Hizballah”.

La guerre au pays des mythes

Il existe des idées fausses qui ne se laissent pas démonter. Elles vont des légendes urbaines aux mythes politiques, des histoires scabreuses sur des individus qui devraient être vraies mais ne le sont pas, aux événements historiques qui ne devraient pas être vrais mais qui le sont. Souvent, ce ne sont que des nuisances, mais parfois, elles sont bien pires que cela. L’exemple le plus grave actuellement, et le sujet de cette semaine, sont les rêves et les cauchemars de guerre totale. J’ai consacré un essai entier à ce sujet il y a quelques semaines, et j’espérais ne pas avoir à y revenir, mais les tambours de guerre continuent de résonner dans toutes les parties du spectre politique, donc je suppose que cela vaut la peine d’y revenir.

Le socialisme à la chinoise est-il marxiste ?

S’interroger sur les rapports entre le marxisme et le parti communiste chinois, c’est s’engager dans un dédale vertigineux. Non seulement les questions jaillissent de toutes parts, mais on se heurte assez vite à un problème de méthode : faut-il évaluer le «socialisme chinois de la nouvelle ère» au regard du «socialisme de Marx» ? Qui plus est, ce problème de méthode – qu’il faudra traiter comme tel – recouvre un véritable problème de fond : le socialisme étant selon Marx une phase transitoire (le «premier stade du communisme») entre la société capitaliste et la société communiste, à partir de quel moment peut-on dire que l’élément communiste l’emporte sur l’élément capitaliste ? Et comment peut-on déterminer ce point de bascule – à supposer qu’il soit possible et légitime de le faire – dans la trajectoire passée, présente et future (à titre d’hypothèse) du socialisme chinois ? Autrement dit, le socialisme au stade primaire dont se prévaut aujourd’hui le parti communiste chinois a-t-il quelque chose à voir avec le socialisme tel que Marx le concevait ? Que laisse-t-il augurer quant à la poursuite de la transition socialiste en Chine ? Ce qui revient aussi à demander : puisque le PCC se réclame du marxisme, dans quelle mesure la théorie et la pratique des communistes chinois (de Mao à nos jours) sont-elles marxistes ?