Germany swears in watchdog to root out extremism in forces
An outgoing Social Democrat lawmaker has been sworn in as the German parliament’s new commissioner for Germany’s military, the Bundeswehr. Eva Högl said “attitudes” must change.
Author: M Barbu
How Turkey crushed UAE’s gambit in Libya
Turkish drones in early April this year successfully carried out strikes on an Antonov military cargo aircraft from the UAE at an airstrip north of Tarhuna city in Libya. The hit was aimed at disrupting the UAE’s regular supply of weapons to the warlord Khalifa Haftar’s forces attacking the southern Tripoli front line. Since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya is virtually divided into two seats of power: The Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli, which enjoys UN and international recognition but seriously backed only by Turkey, and the other group led by Khalifa Haftar, a renegade general, in eastern Libya backed by United Arab Emirates (UAE) sheikhs, the Egyptian military regime, Russian mercenaries and French leader Emmanuel Macron.
Return of Nation-States Need Not be a Threat
The trend we witness in world politics is away from the initial forms of globalization and toward a reassertion of the nation-state as one of the two key players in international economic and business relations, the other player being transnational businesses.
What comes after the collapse of Haftar’s western campaign?
Fourteen months after he launched an assault on the Libyan capital of Tripoli, Libyan National Army Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar stood on a podium on Saturday in Cairo next to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Libyan House of Representatives Speaker Aguila Saleh to announce that he would be accepting an Egyptian-sponsored ceasefire and a initiative to restart political talks in the factional conflict.
Trump Antifa Terrorist Label Seen Distracting From Real Threats
President Donald Trump‘s tweet that he would designate the group Antifa as a domestic terrorism organization is drawing criticism as unconstitutional and risking the diversion of resources from known terrorism threats.
Why Trump Can’t Designate Antifa as a Terrorist Organization
On Sunday afternoon, President Donald Trump tweeted that, “The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization.” The declaration, via social media, comes on the heels of Attorney General William Barr blaming the violence from the protests that have erupted across the country in response to the murder of George Floyd on “far-left extremist groups.”
Sidelining the Islamic State in Niger’s Tillabery
Islamist militants are making further inroads into Tillabery, a region on Niger’s border with Mali. To fend off the threat, Niamey should supplement its counter-insurgency campaign with initiatives aimed at soothing communal tensions along the frontier and starting dialogue with locals in the jihadists’ orbit.
Court-circuiter l’Etat islamique dans la région de Tillabéri au Niger
Les insurgés islamistes progressent dans la région nigérienne de Tillabéri, à la frontière avec le Mali. Face à cette menace, Niamey devrait accompagner ses opérations militaires d’initiatives politiques visant à apaiser les tensions entre les communautés frontalières et à entamer un dialogue avec les Nigériens ayant rejoint l’Etat islamique.
Russia’s Arctic Empire
These Russian claims have not yet been adjudicated by international law courts, the United Nations, or by any bilateral or multilateral treaty.
Russia’s blanket claims of territorial sovereignty pose a direct challenge to “Law of the Sea” conventions such as the “Freedom of Navigation” (FON) principle, championed by the U.S. and other Free World navies.
How Russia made Hemeimeem air base its African hub
The satellite images published on May 26 by U.S. African Command (AFRICOM) appear to confirm reports that Russian MiG-29 jet fighters had flown to Libya. At least one of the aircraft, never before deployed to the country, was spotted at the al-Jufra air base. It may well be that, as some reports suggest, the aircraft were acquired from Belarus and operated by Belarussian and Serbian pilots, not Russians. Having said that, however, Russia can no longer deny it knows about the deployment of military equipment to Libya and argue, as it did, that the hardware was procured through dummy firms in Serbia without Moscow’s knowledge. In fact, the MiG-29s travelled to Libya via Russia’s Hemeimeem air base in Syria, by way of Iran’s Hamadan air base and Russia’s Privolzhsky airfield, and were accompanied by a Tu-154M military aircraft. As this latest episode makes clear, Hemeimeem air base plays a central role in Russia’s growing involvement in both the Mediterranean and Africa.