France continued to issue arms export licences to Russia after the 2014 embargo, investigative website Disclose has revealed.
According to leaked documents, French companies delivered arms to Russia after the EU imposed sanctions, including an arms embargo, against Russia in 2014. France has since issued more than 70 licences to export military equipment to companies worth €152 million.
The sidewalks were covered in bits of glass and bloodstains. A green trolley car sat crumpled, a taxi smashed into its side. Next to a crushed car lay what appeared to be a body, covered by a piece of tarp.
In a park across the way, Irina Kostiuk, 38, stood staring at the scene, clutching her bleeding hand. She had been inside one of the buildings damaged in the Monday morning attack in Kyiv’s Podilskyi district, volunteering at a humanitarian aid center to help disabled civilians. Around 11 a.m., she heard a loud boom and felt the windows shatter.
What Xi Gains—and Loses—From Backing Putin
The Ukraine crisis is primarily a standoff between Russia and the West, but off to the side, another player stands awkwardly: China. Beijing has tried to walk a fine line on Ukraine. On one hand, it has taken Russia’s side, blaming NATO expansion for causing the crisis and alleging that U.S. predictions of an imminent invasion are aggravating it. On the other hand, especially as the risk of military conflict has grown, it has called for diplomacy over war.
The new leader of Islamic State, whose appointment the group announced on Thursday, is the brother of slain former caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, according to two Iraqi security officials and one Western security source.
Islamic State named its new leader Abu al-Hassan al-Hashemi al-Quraishi in a recorded audio message distributed online.
The announcement came weeks after the death last month of Abu Ibrahim al-Quraishi, the man who in turn succeeded Baghdadi in 2019 and became the group’s second so-called caliph. Both Baghdadi and Quraishi died by blowing themselves and family members up during U.S. raids on their hideouts in northern Syria.
A cottage industry of books proclaiming that the end of western-style democracy is nye proliferated over the past years. Russia’s war against Ukraine, the revival of an authoritarian rival, could have been the nail in the coffin. Yet the opposite has happened. When confronted with the realities of a tyranny, embracing one’s democratic institutions isn’t hard to do. But ultimately people’s confidence in democracy comes from domestic, not foreign policy, and its ability to deliver a materially superior way of life, argues Philip Collins.
L’alliance fondée par les Américains pour défendre l’Europe contre une agression soviétique a raté sa reconversion après la chute du communisme. Au lieu de saisir la main tendue par la Russie au début des années 2000, l’OTAN a multiplié les provocations stratégiques. Les Ukrainiens paient au prix fort trois décennies d’erreurs.
Those who believe Putin is trying to reestablish Russia as a great power say that once he gains control over Ukraine, he will turn his focus to other former Soviet republics, including the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and eventually Bulgaria, Romania and even Poland.
“The Eurasian Empire will be constructed on the fundamental principle of the common enemy: the rejection of Atlanticism, the strategic control of the USA, and the refusal to allow liberal values to dominate us.” — Aleksandr Dugin, Russian strategist, “Foundation of Geopolitics: The Geopolitical Future of Russia.”
Japan’s experience in reconstruction and economic development could benefit states in the region that face multiple challenges.
As external partners struggle to find appropriate responses to the many challenges facing West Africa, Japan’s approach to peace and security may be an interesting option to explore.
The Russia-Ukraine crisis has not only changed the geopolitical landscape, but also profoundly altered the global energy balance.
Since the escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, geopolitical risks have stimulated a sharp rise in international oil prices. Since February 21, 2022, when Russia recognized two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent entities until March 2, the price of Brent crude oil rose 17.6%., from $97.38 to $114.5; the price of Crude Oil WTI rose 20%, from $92.8 to $111.38. On March 2, the gas price at the Dutch TTF hub, the benchmark gas price for Europe, soared to a record high to over 194 euro per megawatt-hour, equivalent to more than 2,000 euro per 1,000 cubic meters of gas.
Violent extremism is escalating in West Africa’s coastal states. This is terrifying for citizens but is just the tip of the insurgency iceberg. Under the surface lies a covert network that ensures terrorism continues in the region. Evidence is emerging that jihadists’ activities within and through coastal states are enabling them to fund, staff and run the logistics they need to thrive.