Sudan army suspends truce talks with paramilitary rivals, says official

The Sudanese army has suspended its participation in US- and Saudi-brokered ceasefire talks with its paramilitary foes, a government official told AFP on Wednesday.

The army took the decision “because the rebels have never implemented a single one of the provisions of a short-term ceasefire which required their withdrawal from hospitals and residential buildings, and have repeatedly violated the truce”, the Sudanese official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A Machiavellian US In The Middle East – OpEd

The war in Syria has dropped out of the news, like almost everything else, in a time when the Ukraine war seems to dominate all discourse and reporting. But the regime of Bashar al-Assad continues to strangle its own country. Even last year the Russians continued to bomb on his behalf, terrifying civilians and hospitals.

En Libye, nuit de combats entre groupes armés à Tripoli

Deux groupements affiliés au gouvernement d’unité nationale se sont affrontés en plein cœur de la capitale.

Des combats ont opposé dans la nuit de dimanche 28 à lundi 29 mai deux groupes armés influents en plein centre de la capitale libyenne Tripoli, faisant des blessés légers parmi la population civile, selon les secours et des médias locaux.

‘Z’ Marks The Trouble Spot: Russia’s Symbol Of War Appears In Northern Kosovo – Analysis

As ethnic trouble brewed and the latest confrontations erupted this week in northern Kosovo, a powerful symbol of Russian expansionism emerged alongside the Serbian flags denoting resistance to Pristina’s authority.

RFE/RL’s Balkan Service and other media shared images of the “Z,” which was used by Russian forces invading Ukraine, painted or otherwise scrawled on Kosovo police and NATO peacekeepers’ vehicles.

War And Friendship In A Time Of War – Book Review

Salman Rushdie once commented that those who are displaced by war are the shining shards that reflect the truth. With so many people fleeing wars and ecological collapse in our world today, and more to come, we need acute truth-telling to deepen our understanding and recognize the terrible faults of those who have caused so much suffering in our world today. In The Mercenary, Jeffrey Stern has accomplished a tremendous feat inasmuch as every paragraph aims to tell the truth.

Is US Dollar Hegemony Under Threat? – Analysis

This analysis provides a reassessment of dollar hegemony and power relations in the international monetary system.

Summary
Despite renewed predictions that dollar hegemony has reached its peak, the greenback continues to dominate global trade, finance and the reserve portfolios of central bankers around the world. But can high inflation, geopolitical tensions and the sanctions levied on Russia by the US and its allies dent its global dominance? Focusing on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the sanctions on Russia, and the ‘steep hike’ of interest rates by the Federal Reserve, this paper reassesses power relations in the international monetary system and analyses the state of dollar hegemony. It finds that, although the US dollar still reigns supreme, there are certain undercurrents that indicate the slow erosion of its global dominance and the gradual shift towards a multipolar currency order. To prevent, or at least slow down, the pace of further fragmentation, the West ought to re-evaluate the use of financial sanctions as a foreign policy tool and offer the Global South more voice in international monetary relations.

The Wagner Group: A Tool Of Hybrid Warfare – Analysis

The Wagner Group has furthered Russia’s foreign policy objectives around the globe. The organisation remained secretive till July 2022, when the presence of the group was accepted in the Russian media. The Wagner has gained infamy for its role in the ongoing ‘Special Military Operation’ in Ukraine. There are, however, signs of growing schism between Wagner and the Russian Ministry of Defence.

Turkey’s jailed Kurdish leader quits active politics after Erdogan’s victory

Selahattin Demirtas’ announcement comes amid heated public debate over whether Kemal Kilicdaroglu would resign after he was defeated by President Erdogan in Sunday’s runoff.

The ongoing public debate in Turkey over whether the country’s main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu would resign the Republican People’s Party leadership after his presidential election loss took a surprising twist on Wednesday with the announcement of a departure from another opposition figure.

Turkey’s beleaguered Kurds weigh new strategies after Erdogan’s win

The key question following the vote is whether the alliance between the HDP and the main opposition Republican People’s Party and its Table of Six partners can endure.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s electoral victory is roiling the country’s Kurdish movement, with its most popular leader declaring from jail that he is withdrawing from active politics. The announcement Wednesday by Selahattin Demirtas, former co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), presages debate on a future course to be charted ahead of critical local elections that are to be held in March 2024. Kurdish voters are poised to play a key role as they did in 2019 when they helped the opposition wrest key cities, notably Ankara and Istanbul, from Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).