The Pandemic Has Done Little to Check China’s Geostrategic Ambitions

Given the lack of joined up thinking by China’s geopolitical adversaries, the biggest threat to China’s growing economic and geopolitical dominance may actually be itself.

For a country considered by many to have been the source of a global health pandemic resulting in over 5.3 million deaths globally, it is noteworthy that COVID-19 appears to have done little to check China’s geostrategic standing. If anything, it can be argued that China’s geostrategic reach may actually have increased. This is particularly the case as Western governments have presided over a series of geostrategic errors allowing Beijing to extend its sphere of influence almost unchallenged.

Protecting the European Security Order

The US and Europe will need to work together to prevent Russian attempts to fundamentally redefine the European security order by force.

In late 2021, European Council President Charles Michel declared 2022 the ‘year of European defence’. He was referring to a burst of planned activity from the EU: a European Defence Summit, an EU defence strategy in the form of the EU ‘Strategic Compass’, a joint EU–NATO declaration, and the articulation and hopeful agreement of what ‘European strategic autonomy’ means in practice, all within the first six months of the year under the French EU Council presidency.

Morocco Drives a War in Western Sahara for Its Phosphates

In November 2020, the Moroccan government sent its military to the Guerguerat area, a buffer zone between the territory claimed by the Kingdom of Morocco and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). The Guerguerat border post is at the very southern edge of Western Sahara along the road that goes to Mauritania. The presence of Moroccan troops “in the Buffer Strip in the Guerguerat area” violated the 1991 ceasefire agreed upon by the Moroccan monarchy and the Polisario Front of the Sahrawi. That ceasefire deal was crafted with the assumption that the United Nations would hold a referendum in Western Sahara to decide on its fate; no such referendum has been held, and the region has existed in stasis for three decades now.

Statu quo.Sahara occidental, une tournée de l’envoyé onusien et puis s’en va

L’envoyé spécial du secrétaire général des Nations unies pour le Sahara occidental, Staffan de Mistura, a terminé le 19 janvier sa tournée dans la région pour tenter de relancer le dialogue entre les parties prenantes du conflit. Le bilan de ces échanges est mitigé, tant les protagonistes algérien et marocain campent sur leur position.

Un naufrage fait 4 morts et 7 disparus parmi des migrants en Tunisie

Quatre Tunisiens, dont une fillette, ont péri et sept autres sont portés disparus après le naufrage d’une embarcation de migrants au large de la grande ville tunisienne de Sfax (centre-est), a appris vendredi l’AFP auprès des garde-côtes.

“L’embarcation partie des côtes tunisiennes a coulé dans la nuit de mercredi à jeudi, devant les îles de Kerkennah”, situées au large de Sfax, la deuxième ville du pays, a indiqué à l’AFP Houssem Eddine Jebabli, porte-parole de la garde nationale.

Tunisie : le président Kais Saied promet de garantir les libertés

Le président tunisien Kais Saied s’est insurgé contre les manifestations qui ont eu lieu dans le pays. Il a répété son engagement à garantir l’égalité de tous devant la loi en recevant le ministre de l’Intérieur Taoufik Charfeddine.

Plusieurs personnes étaient dans les rues de Tunis la semaine dernière, une manifestation qui avait été interdite par les autorités dans le cadre des restrictions contre le Covid-19.

EU-MENA relations: Outlook for 2022

Going into 2022, many of the main issues that dominated the European Union’s (EU) relations with the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), from the ongoing talks in Vienna to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, as well as the uncontrolled influx of migrants from the region and Turkey’s long-stalled membership bid, remain on the agenda. Is the new year likely to see a resolution of any of these issues or any other significant changes in relations between the EU and the countries of the region?

Afghanistan’s economy: Collapse and chaos

On Jan. 13, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed alarm that millions of Afghans are on the “verge of death” thanks to a lethal brew of “freezing temperatures and frozen assets.” This was no idle warning. Notwithstanding the decline in fighting following the Taliban’s victory in August 2021, Afghanistan’s economy is in a deepening spiral of impoverishment and destitution.

How involved was Iran in the Houthi attack on the UAE?

Three days have passed since the Houthi attack on the UAE, yet there’s still a lot we don’t know about what really happened. That’s not uncommon. When the Iranians attacked Saudi oil processing facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais in the fall of 2019, it took several weeks to figure out who truly was behind the attack, where they launched it from, what weapons they used, how those weapons performed, and why Saudi air and missile defenses failed to respond.

As the Houthis expand their regional aggression, will the US double down on a failing strategy?

The State Department announced, on Jan. 19, that Tim Lenderking, the U.S. special envoy for Yemen, is departing for a round of consultations in the Gulf and London. He’ll be joining U.N. Special Envoy Hans Grundberg, who has already arrived in the region. According to the announcement, Lenderking is being dispatched “to press the parties to de-escalate militarily and seize the new year to participate fully in an inclusive UN-led peace process.”