Italy on Wednesday announced it will suspend an open-border agreement with neighboring Slovenia, citing an increased threat of terrorism in Europe due to violence in the Middle East.
On September 9th a federal court ordered Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to remove a 1,000-foot line of buoys from the Rio Grande. The buoys are part of Operation Lone Star—a Texas initiative to secure the state’s southern border, stop the smuggling of drugs and contraband, and interdict transnational criminal activity. Although the judge’s opinion was based on the obscure Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899, it raises the issue of state authority over immigration.
The Pandora Papers exposed the financial secrets of powerful people in more than 100 countries, leading to a worldwide crackdown on tax dodgers, money launderers and the white-collar professionals who enable them.
So much sheer nonsense has been talked about the use of information and “facts” in political argument, that I thought it might be useful to make a modest attempt to set a few things out clearly, so as to reduce confusion, and explain how things actually work. I’m going to cover two issues: first, how we can think of “truth” in politics, and second, how governments handle information and the legal and political issues that surround it. I’m going to try to be as factual as possible, without getting drawn into controversy.
Poland is unprecedentedly important nowadays, but Germany still remains in control of the EU’s foreign policy. What changed over the past year, however, is that Berlin has finally decided to jump on Warsaw’s Russophobic bandwagon in an attempt to lead this trend. Its policymakers decided to do so in order to most effectively advance their country’s national interests as they now understand them to be in this new environment. The Kremlin must urgently acknowledge this reality and formulate policy accordingly.
The German leader just published what can be interpreted as his manifesto explaining why his country must supposedly restore its prior hegemonic status, and it was released by none other than the same magazine run by the Council on Foreign Affairs, which is regarded as among the most influential policymaking platforms in the US-led West’s Golden Billion. The very fact that they ran his manifesto can be regarded as this de facto New Cold War bloc’s tacit support for Germany’s hegemonic ambitions.
Abstract: Efforts to analyse the economic, political, and security trends to understand important aspects of the power transition process might have paved the way for broader research endeavours. However, the holistic international picture is yet to be shown. Taking a holistic view of geopolitics is necessary as it allows for a comprehensive understanding of global politics’ complex and interconnected nature. Geopolitics encompasses the study of how geographical factors influence political power and international relations. By taking a holistic view, we consider not only traditional geopolitical factors like territory, resources, and military power but also the cultural, economic, social, environmental, and technological dimensions that shape and influence global politics.
Forget the pipelines. The growing détente between Eastern Mediterranean neighbors Israel, Cyprus, and Greece is being leveraged mainly to counter Turkish influence and expand Washington’s presence in the region.
The militarily-centered Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, also known as the Islamic State or Daesh, successfully liberated the expansive territories once occupied by the terrorist group. However, ISIS remains a key threat in both Syria and Iraq as well as globally. To bring about durable counter terrorism, there is an urgent need for a Global Humanitarian Coalition to Defeat ISIS to conduct human rights-centered action and build upon the hard-fought military gains. Repatriation of all third-country nationals in the squalid detention camps and prisons in northeast Syria must be the first joint task in order to ease the burden of the local administration and to accomplish long-sought security, justice, and stabilization goals.
The US backstabbed France in West Africa after cutting a secret deal in Niger almost two years to the day after it backstabbed that same country in the Asia-Pacific after cutting a secret deal with Australia and the UK to create AUKUS.