Reflectii

What do we know about Zawahiri’s death?

On 2 August, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. had killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul on the morning of 31 July. The U.S. said it had discovered that Zawahiri had returned to the Afghan capital with his family in the spring of 2022, after more than two decades in hiding (as early as 1998, he was wanted for his alleged role in al-Qaeda’s bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa that year). Much of this time, he was widely thought to be sheltering somewhere near the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. U.S. officials said the CIA had been watching the safe house in an upmarket district of Kabul, where the al-Qaeda leader was staying for several months, before proceeding with a precision drone strike. The Taliban have not explicitly acknowledged Zawahiri’s death beyond stating that they had no information about his arrival and stay in the capital.

Political instability is harming the West’s ability to strategise. For the good of Ukraine and Europe it needs to be actively mitigated.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has dramatically shifted the European security order. European countries, under significant political and societal pressures, have broadly done well to adapt to the pace of change and deal with the secondary and tertiary effects of the war. Countries have delivered extraordinary military, diplomatic, economic and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. Russia has been extensively sanctioned and significant steps have been taken to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian oil and gas. NATO has invited two new members to join the alliance and has significantly strengthened its defence and deterrence posture.

China on Thursday conducted its largest ever live-fire missile exercise off the shores of Taiwan, just one day after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi concluded her controversial diplomatic visit.

The missiles landed in the Taiwan Strait to the island’s North, South, and East, in the first such drill since 1996, escalating China’s antagonism toward Taiwan, Reuters reported.

Have you been out to your favourite restaurant, only to discover the food wasn’t quite as good or the portions were much smaller? Or even eating at home has become more expensive as the supermarket shop adds up?

As the Cuban government celebrates the July 26 Day of the National Rebellion–a public holiday commemorating the 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks that is considered the precursor to the 1959 revolution–U.S. groups are calling on the Biden administration to stop its cruel sanctions that are creating such hardship for the Cuban people. In particular, they are pushing President Biden to take Cuba off the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Pour le deuxième déplacement international de son deuxième mandat, du 25 au 28 juillet 2022, Emmanuel Macron a décidé de se rendre en Afrique (Cameroun, Bénin, Guinée-Bissau). Le président de la République estime, à juste titre, que les destins de la France et du continent africain sont étroitement liés.

Политолог Александр Ведруссов — о роли африканского континента во внешнеполитических построениях России

Быть глобальной державой нелегко. Буквально каждый регион мира требует пристального и непрерывного внимания. Иначе не получится выстроить долгосрочные диалоговые механизмы и сбалансировать интересы самых разных международных акторов, особенно в текущей стрессовой геополитической обстановке.

WHEN THE energy ministers of the European Union’s member countries gathered for an emergency meeting on July 26th, the deal came swiftly. They agreed that each country should cut gas consumption by 15%, compared with their average over the past five years, between August 1st and March 31st 2023. It was a typical EU compromise, forged in long negotiations and riddled with exemptions and concessions. It will not really solve the problem at hand: how the EU should respond if Russia halts or radically reduces supplies—something that seems increasingly likely. The day before the meeting Gazprom, Russia’s state energy giant, announced that it would again reduce the volume of gas flowing through its Nord Stream 1 pipeline, to 20% of capacity.

While the US provides monthly updates on the development of wages, eurozone wage data is published quarterly, creating delays of up to six months. This negatively affects how inflation is discussed in Europe and could lead to bad economic policy.