Chinese leaders “believe they have a narrow window of strategic opportunity to strengthen their rule and revise the international order in their favor”. — Former U.S. National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster, Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World.
A few months ago, a police officer, Noam Anouar, who infiltrated Islamist circles… stated that no-go zones in France are now foreign enclaves on French territory. “The gangs operating there,” he wrote, “have formed a parallel economy based on drug trafficking. They consider themselves at war with France and with Western civilization. They act in cooperation with Islamist organizations, and define acts of predation and rampage as raids against infidels”. He noted that reclaiming these areas today would be complicated, costly, and involve calling in the army.
La scara istoriei umanitatii, lumea liberala a fost, de fapt, foarte scurta ca fereastra de timp. A fost, de asemenea, si restransa geografic, limitandu-se la un perimetru cultural-politic si civilizational fericit, numit Occident, pe cele doua maluri ale Atlanticului de Nord.
Persons “in need of international protection or for other humanitarian reasons”, however, are exempted from these restrictions on non-essential travel from third countries.” — European Commission statement, March 30, 2020.
Bottom Line Up Front:
May 3rd was the 27th annual World Press Freedom Day, although freedom of the press is under assault worldwide.
Some governments have used the coronavirus as an excuse to censor media outlets that are merely attempting to provide transparent reporting about the pandemic and its effects.
Whenever I catch sight of myself wearing a mask as I walk through the deserted streets of Brussels or the empty corridors of the European Commission, I cannot help but be overcome by a feeling of shock. Especially since, no matter where you go and no matter where you are, this sense of shock is palpable. It is palpable on Saint Mark’s Square in Venice – now deserted by humans while the fish return to the waters of the lagoon, which are clear once again. It is palpable in Jerusalem, where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was shut down on Good Friday for the first time since the 1349 Black Death. It is palpable in the United States, where unemployment has risen by 20 million in four weeks. Lastly, it is palpable in Spain and Italy, where no fewer than 45,000 people had died by the end of April.
Danish police carried out a raid in Copenhagen and arrested a man suspected of involvement in Islamist terrorism, authorities said Thursday, adding he likely acted alone.
The coronavirus pandemic is fuelling extremism on the far-right and far-left in Europe and giving Islamic State and other militants cover to regain influence, the European Union’s counter-terrorism chief has warned.
The ban is in fact a compromise measure between German lawmakers who want to take a harder line against Iran and those who do not. As a result, the ban falls far short of a complete prohibition on Hezbollah and appears aimed at providing the German government with political cover that allows Germany to claim that it has banned the group even if it has not.
Everything is changing rapidly amid the COVID-19 pandemic. These changes are occurring primarily at the national level, affecting politics, society, and economics, but the pandemic is also having a major impact on international relations. In the case of the European Union (EU) and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, state authorities on both sides of the Mediterranean are focusing mainly on the fight against COVID-19 from a public health perspective. As a result, EU-MENA relations are largely on hold at the moment, with very limited bilateral cooperation compared to the pre-pandemic period. This situation, of course, will not last forever. Nevertheless, leaders in the EU and MENA should be prepared for the political and economic consequences, which are significant.