Author: M Barbu

How Cold War I (US-Soviet) Is Different From Cold War II (US-China) – Analysis

The United States has recently been talking seriously about starting a new Cold War with China. In Cold War with the former Soviet Union which mostly revolved ideological and security spheres, the two sides reached a strategic agreement to replace political threats with military ones. Thus, the former Cold War between the Kremlin and the White House began with an agreement, not a threat.

In the new Cold War; however, there is no such agreement between US and China and due to Beijing‘s economic rise as well as the profound geopolitical changes that have taken place in the Indo-Pacific region in recent years the political and economic threats are turning into military ones.

Smaller European Nations Uneasy As Germany’s Scholz Plans To Meet Putin

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to reset relations with Moscow and is planning a face-to-face meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin later this month.

Senior German officials were already scheduled to get together with Russian counterparts in January in a bid to ease geopolitical tensions amid rising alarm that the Kremlin is planning a further military incursion into Ukraine.

Inflation Or Recession? The Fed Faces A Choice

On December 15, the Federal Reserve announced numerous quantitative tightening measures that have the intended goal of combating the rising inflation that has been bogging down the American economy. As of November 2021, the rate of inflation has reached 6.8 percent, the highest since 1982, and is unlikely to have peaked yet.

Amidst military offensive, notorious bandit Turji releases 52 kidnap victims

Bello Turji’s gesture is coming a few days after Nigerian Air force jets bombed to death two other bandits’ leaders and their commanders in Gusami forest in Zamfara state.

A few days after military operations in Zamfara State killed two leaders of terror groups and their followers, another kingpin, Bello Turji, has released dozens of victims his group kidnapped.

African human trafficking fugitive nabbed in joint operation

Kenyan police arrested a man sought in connection with human trafficking since 2017 in a joint operation with Dutch authorities and Interpol.

53-year-old John Habeta was taken into custody at Schiphol International airport in Amsterdam on 25 December after his arrest in Kenya.

The Extrajudicial Killing of General Soleimani, and the Right to Life under International Law

Abstract

On 3rd January 2020, Iranian General, Qassem Soleimani was assassinated in Baghdad under the orders of Former President Donald Trump. Trump argued that Iran was planning an imminent attack, although till today no proof of this claim has been provided by the US. Experts in international law have highlighted that the targeted killing of Soleimani was neither legal, nor necessary. The US failed to prove that Soleimani was a threat, that he was involved in terror operations, or that killing Soleimani was necessary to avert other terror attacks. This paper will examine the arguments presented by Trump, analyse the right to life under International human rights law, and explore the challenges presented by America’s war on terror campaign with respect to human rights and state sovereignty.

Ukrainian neutrality: a ‘golden bridge’ out of the current geopolitical trap

It may just be the ultimate agreement that neither the US or Russia can refuse.

Whether deliberately or not, the Russian government has left the United States and NATO a perfect “golden bridge” out of the trap that is developing in Ukraine. In diplomatic parlance, this means finding the other side a way of abandoning an untenable position without excessive loss of face or sacrifice of truly important interests.

In the present crisis between Russia and the West, the golden bridge is Ukrainian neutrality, along the general lines of the Austrian State Treaty of 1955, by which Western and Soviet occupying troops withdrew from that country, allowing it to develop as a successful free-market democracy. The Biden administration, either directly or through German and French mediation, should seek to “own” the idea of Ukrainian neutrality as its response to Russia’s demands.

China’s Soft-Power Advantage in Africa

Beijing Isn’t Just Building Roads—It’s Making Friends

When U.S. policymakers consider China’s influence in Africa, they often think of big-ticket infrastructure development programs such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Over the past two decades, Beijing has spent billions building dams, highways, railways, and ports in countries from Egypt to South Africa.

But those sorts of projects are only part of the story. China’s evolving presence in Africa, including the BRI, is based as much on investment in building social and human capital as it is on giant infrastructure projects. Since the beginning of this century, Beijing has invested heavily in cultivating political,

Russia Is Playing With Fire in the Balkans

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the Yugoslav wars, Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II. Although the Balkan states moved toward democratic governance and integration with NATO and the European Union in the immediate aftermath of the wars, consistent neglect on the part of the West has contributed to a dramatic backsliding in recent years. Now Russian President Vladimir Putin is seizing his opportunity and using the former Yugoslav states as the next battlefield to weaken NATO and the European Union.

4,400 migrants lost at sea bound for Spain in 2021, double previous year

More than 4,400 migrants, including at least 205 children, were lost at sea trying to reach Spain in 2021, a monitoring group said on Monday – more than double the figure from the previous year and the most since the group began counting in 2018.

The group, Walking Borders, or Caminando Fronteras, blamed increasingly dangerous routes, inferior boats and the fear of some vessels to help migrants at sea for the surge in deaths, Reuters reported. According to Spanish official statistics, 39,000 undocumented migrants successfully reached Spain by sea or land last year, a similar figure to the previous year.