Author: M Barbu

Enemies of My Enemy

How Fear of China Is Forging a New World Order

The international order is falling apart, and everyone seems to know how to fix it. According to some, the United States just needs to rededicate itself to leading the liberal order it helped found some 75 years ago. Others argue that the world’s great powers should form a concert to guide the international community into a new age of multipolar cooperation. Still others call for a grand bargain that divides the globe into stable spheres of influence. What these and other visions of international order have in common is an assumption that global governance can be designed and imposed from the top down. With wise statesmanship and ample summitry, the international jungle can be tamed and cultivated. Conflicts of interest and historical hatreds can be negotiated away and replaced with win-win cooperation.

How to Make a Deal With Putin

Only a Comprehensive Pact Can Avoid War

Vladimir Putin has the world on edge. The Russian president has deployed more than 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders and threatened “military-technical” measures if NATO continues to cooperate with Kyiv. He unilaterally drafted two extraordinarily aggressive treaties in December designed to constrain the organization and its members. They contain demands that are such nonstarters—most centrally, closing NATO’s open door to Ukraine and prohibiting organizational forces and weapons in nations that joined after May 1997—that they read more like predicates for war rather than sincere overtures for negotiations.

Syrian Jihadi Cleric Reports HTS Gave Foreign Jihadis Days To Leave Idlib, Lists 24 Names, Including French Citizens

On February 17, 2022, Syrian jihadi cleric Abu Yahya Al-Shami, a fierce critic of Syrian jihadi group Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) which largely controls Syria’s Idlib, published[1] a post on Telegram accusing it of expelling several foreign jihadis from the city. Al-Shami provided a list of 24 foreign jihadis of different nationalities, including Tunisians, Moroccans, an Egyptian, an Algerian, an Indian, and even some French citizens.

US tank sale to bolster Polish forces as allies focus on Russia’s movements

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Friday that the U.S. will sell 250 M1A2 Abrams tanks to Poland, giving a key NATO ally that borders Russia a substantial boost in firepower.

Adding the tanks to the Polish arsenal will ensure more equitable security burden-sharing in NATO, he said, although he noted that no delivery date has been set.

Eurafrique

Policy differences between Europe and Africa have been widening, and while there may be warm words about a new partnership when the leaders of the EU and African Union meet in Brussels, there are unlikely to be breakthroughs on key African demands.