Op-ed

Thomas de Waal The political crisis in Belarus is now so protracted that analysts are reaching for chess metaphors. The opposition owns the streets of the capital city, Minsk, as another huge demonstration proved again on Sunday, September 27. Yet Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, whose sickening brutality has shocked the world, …

Farzad Ramezani Bonesh Senior Researcher and Analyst of International Affairs Iran and India have thousands of year’s records of cultural and civilizational relations. Official relations between the two countries were established after India’s independence. Iran and India signed a friendship pact after India’s independence. Iran’s position in India’s …

By James M. Dorsey Saudi Arabia’s chairmanship of the Group of Twenty (G20) is proving to be a mixed blessing. The country and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman saw their chairmanship as an opportunity to showcase the kingdom’s leadership and ability to be a visionary global player. But …

Giancarlo Elia Valori What is strategic intelligence currently used for? First and foremost, for correctly orienting the long sequence of decision makers’ interpretations. Secondly, for acting as automatic or non-automatic selector of relevant or non-relevant facts and news for those who have access to the intelligence system. Finally, …

Giancarlo Elia Valori In March 2019, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang made a long trip to Eastern Europe. The reference for that trip, full of bilateral meetings, was the one found in the Joint Declaration of the EU-China Summit of April 9, 2019. A document in which, as …

Ola Owojori U.S. diplomacy has failed. African diplomacy can’t afford to.The Blue Nile as it passes through the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, near Guba, Ethiopia, on Dec. 26, 2019.  Eduardo Soteras/AFP/Getty Images Egypt and Sudan have threatened to withdraw from negotiations over the filling and operation of the Grand …

Kristupas Gavelis French President Emmanuel Macron visited Lithuania and Latvia. Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT reported that such visit during COVID-19 is a demonstration of solidarity with the Baltic States. But it seems as if it has more pragmatic reasons. “We are working together, and we want to move forward …

 Saskia Glas and Niels Spierings September 11 attacks in New York City: view of the World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty. Source: US National Park Service, Wiki CC In reaction to the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers on September 11, public debates droned an ongoing refrain …

Giancarlo Elia Valori Syria’s current prospects are no longer a return – albeit a laborious one – to an old pre-2015 unitary State, but the persistence of a very fragmented territory. This, however, responds to a logic of various countries’ future participation in the great reconstruction business. The …