Egyptian, Russian navies carrying out Friendship Bridge 3 drills in Black Sea

The naval vessels and units participating in the drill departed from Alexandria Naval Base in formation on their way to the Black Sea

A number of Egyptian naval vessels participating in the Egyptian-Russian maritime drill dubbed Friendship Bridge 3 have crossed the Dardanelles and Bosporus straits on their way to the Black Sea, the Egyptian Armed Forces said on Monday.

Hundreds of Syrians leave Kurdish-held Al-Hol camp

More than 500 Syrians, some related to alleged Islamic State group members, quit the overcrowded Kurdish-run camp of Al-Hol in the northeast of the war-torn country Monday, Kurdish officials said. An AFP reporter saw dozens of women lugging their belongings onto trucks, and others feeding their children before their departure. Some were accompanied by chickens and sheep, while Kurdish…

Curb Your Enthusiasm: What France Expects From a Biden Presidency

Few in France will miss Donald Trump. According to a survey released by the Pew Research Center in January, only 20 percent of the French population have confidence in the U.S. president, compared to 32 percent in the U.K. and 13 percent in Germany. And French President Emmanuel Macron’s high-profile efforts to cultivate his American counterpart on a range of policy issues resulted in some memorable encounters, but also, more often than not, in bitter disappointment.

It may come as a surprise, then, that the French government’s enthusiasm regarding the prospects of working with the incoming Democratic administration of President-elect Joe Biden is decidedly measured.

Jean-Pierre Obin: «Pour les islamistes, le progrès, la tolérance, l’humanisme sont des valeurs exécrables»

Entretien avec Jean-Pierre Obin, qui publie Comment on a laissé l’islamisme pénétrer l’école

Par où commencer ? Par ce professeur d’histoire non musulman qui enseigne avec le Coran sur son bureau pour rassurer ses élèves, par ces mystérieuses « allergies au chlore » qui contaminent principalement des élèves musulmanes ou par ces bambins de CE2/CM1 défilant dans leur cour de récré au cri de « Allah Akbar » ?

Europe’s Lax Security Aids Islamist Terrorists

“I expect an end to the misconceived tolerance, and for all the nations of Europe to finally realise how dangerous the ideology of political Islam is for our freedom and the European way of life.” — Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Die Welt, November 3, 2020.

“We see very clearly that terrorist actions can actually be led by some people who use migratory flows to threaten our territory.” — French President Emmanuel Macron, Politico, November 5, 2020.

The Libyan Oil Industry’s Story of Recovery – And What it Means for the Rest of Africa

When the African Energy Chamber (AEC) started drawing up our 2021 Africa Energy Outlook, which was released on Nov. 10, Libya’s oil industry was still struggling in the face of persistent civil conflict.

If I called 2020 a terrible year for the oil industry, no one would take exception. Demand collapsed in the spring, during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it has yet to recover fully. Prices then collapsed in April as OPEC and Russia walked away from production curbs and flooded the market with crude that no one wanted or needed, and once again, they have yet to regain all of the ground they have lost.

Showdown in the Western Sahara

Presently, the Polisario Front appears to be trying to create “facts on the ground” outside of any legal framework, presumably in the hope that the international community will view them as irreversible.

International help would be greatly appreciated to prevent this showdown in the Sahara from escalating further.

Mali : El Hadj Alou Badara Haïdara, directeur d’Aujourd’hui-Mali : “Mes relations avec ATT étaient devenues familiales”

Le Vieux est parti !” C’est par ces quelques syllabes que mon frère et ami Mohamed Kéïta (gendre d’ATT) m’a appris le décès brutal de l’ancien président de la République, Amadou Toumani Touré, dans la nuit du lundi à mardi aux environs de 3 h 32. Au premier abord, j’ai compris qu’il s’agissait bien de la disparition de celui que j’ai toujours considéré comme mon père puisque je savais qu’il était parti en Turquie, la veille, pour des examens complémentaires après avoir subi avec succès une opération du cœur à l’Hôpital Mère-Enfant “Le Luxembourg”, quelques jours avant.

Western Saharan Polisario says Morocco has ‘ignited war’

The Polisario movement seeking independence for Western Sahara said on Friday that Morocco has broken the 1991 ceasefire between them and had “begun the battle and ignited the war”.

Morocco earlier on Friday said it would clear Polisario supporters from the main highway linking the desert territory to Mauritania.