Middle East

Robert Ellis Europe needs Turkey to shore up its defense. But is Ankara committed to European security? The European Union is caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, it faces an onslaught from Vladimir Putin’s Russia, which is determined to overturn the rules-based …

Matthew Maavak There is a well-worn rhetorical device deployed from Islamabad to Istanbul, echoed with minor variations across various Muslim-majority capitals: Kashmir is the Palestine of South Asia. But what appears on the surface as a passionate defense of Muslim dignity is in fact a geopolitical sleight of …

Staikou Dimitra  “And what didn’t you do to bury me — but you forgot that I was a seed.” — Dinos Christianopoulos These haunting words by the Greek poet evoke the resilience of dissent. But in today’s geopolitical climate, they also echo the perilous cost of speech — …

Zamir Awan The Gaza Strip, once densely populated and impoverished, now stands as a tragic emblem of one of the 21st century’s gravest humanitarian crises. Since October 2023, when the latest Israeli military offensive began, the enclave has witnessed devastation on an unimaginable scale—indiscriminate bombings, widespread displacement, collapse …

Yi Wang In 2025, China and the European Union mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. According to public information, the EU-China Summit is scheduled to take place in Beijing in late July. Whether the summit can yield substantive outcomes is a matter of great …

Greg Priddy Sanctions targeting oil are often ineffective at changing governmental policy and often impose additional costs on companies and consumers. Amid the current media firestorm around L’Affaire Epstein, few people other than Chevron shareholders noticed the headline last Friday about the Trump administration loosening sanctions on Venezuela …

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday called on UN member states to adopt concrete measures, including targeted sanctions and an arms embargo, to hold Israel accountable for grave violations against Palestinians during a high-level UN conference on Palestine set for July 28–29. The ministerial-level meeting, co-hosted by France …

The European Central Bank (ECB) is most likely to cut rates in September or December, while it’s expected to pause its rate cut cycle in July. Uncertainties in the eurozone because of US tariffs are expected to prompt the ECB to pause cutting rates for now and adopt …

Eldar Mamedov Russia sees much to gain from engaging with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Earlier this month, in a move that surprised some, Russia formally recognized the Taliban government in Afghanistan. The decision reflected a calculated geopolitical strategy rather than an ideological endorsement. By engaging with the …