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Afghanistan
Will Central Asia serve as Europe’s bridge to Afghanistan?
Just over one month on from the fall of Kabul, Europe is still grasping for answers to the question of how to engage in...
Analysis
How to save the energy transition in Europe
The European Union is a historical peace project. It has created prosperity and welfare for many citizens and countries. Together, since its founding, we...
Analysis
Will Von der Leyen’s push for stronger European defense fly in Eastern Europe?
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently delivered her second State of the Union Address (SOTEU), the EU's attempt to copy a long-establish...
Analysis
The great European stagnation
Over the last 18 months, most governments across Europe have intervened in their economy more heavily than at any other time in the previous...
Analysis
Romania ignores soft power capabilities
The concept of soft power was articulated in the 1990s by the American scientist Joseph Nye. In his work, he talks about the ability...
Africa
Conflict is spreading across the African continent
Many African countries are run by dictatorships, but their grasp on power is increasingly unstable. Mali has seen at least 2 changes of power...
Afghanistan
On 9/11, it’s time for a reckoning and reflection of decades of failed US national security policy
A reckoning with America’s failed national security policy is long overdue.Our calamitous misadventures in the Middle East and the global financial collapse of 2008...
Afghanistan
Europe willingly forfeited a leadership role in Afghanistan
If Winston Churchill were alive today, I imagine he might have said something like “Never in the history of human conflict have so few...
Analysis
Zero tolerance for hate teaching is not negotiable
The June 2021 publication of an overdue review of Palestinian textbooks by Germany’s Georg Eckert Institute (GEI) was meant to bring peace of mind...
Afghanistan
Afghanistan 2021: An extremist ‘stammtisch’
Everybody has a favorite bar or coffee house. A place you can go to seek solace or connect with old friends. In some cases,...
Analysis
Under Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s LGBTQ community fears the worst
The recent election of Ebrahim Raisi as President of the Islamic Republic of Iran has sent shockwaves through the country's LGBTQ community, with many...
Analysis
The status and prospects of the renewable energy sector in Romania
The Black Sea region has a huge energy potential, both on-shore and off-shore, in terms of natural gas proved reserves and renewable energy. Located...
Analysis
Are Turkish investors falling for Hamas’ games?
Recent reports have revealed the extent of investments and assets controlled by Hamas, the Palestinian terror group, within Turkey.
Hamas has long maintained a strong...
Analysis
An EU diplomatic ‘bâdgir’ in Vienna: The Iran nuclear deal 2.0
When things get hot, you look to cool them down. Persian culture is too familiar with heat with scorching Middle East temperatures. One of...
Analysis
The EU’s plans for stabilizing Libya via democratic elections alone are set to fail
The European Union has for years invested its diplomatic efforts, as well as millions of Euros, into bringing a sense of security to Libya,...
Afghanistan
An Afghan coda
Very rarely, if ever, do I ever write in the first person when offering an opinion or analysis of either a current or past...
Afghanistan
The EU is nothing but a feckless spectator in the unfolding Afghan crisis
The surprising speed by which the Taliban seized control, with relative ease, of the whole of Afghanistan is a major geopolitical debacle for the...
Afghanistan
A monster miracle from a cave
In the history of sport, there have been many unforgettable victories. True testaments of teams achieving the unthinkable. The 1980 Winter Olympics men’s hockey...
Analysis
How Europe risks scoring an own goal on nuclear energy
On July 14, the European Commission took up an extensive policy initiative designed to bring the European Union’s net greenhouse gas emissions down by...
Afghanistan
Russia and China poised to gain influence in Afghanistan
Amidst the chaotic scenes that ushered in the Taliban’s take over of the Afghan capital Kabul, coupled with the West's harried exodus from the...
Afghanistan
The legacy of failure in Afghanistan starts in 1979, not 2001
A decade ago, John Lamberton Harper, a professor of US Foreign Policy and European Studies at Johns Hopkins in Bologna, Italy published an indispensable...
Afghanistan
US Balkan allies to host Afghan refugee processing operations
Even before the Taliban had completed its occupation of Kabul, American allies Albania and Kosovo told Washington that they would serve as transit countries...
Afghanistan
Afghanistan – early lessons and even more questions
The bitterly divided government in Kabul is no more after President Ashraf Ghani and some 80 of his ministers and senior government officials fled...
Analysis
Transcending xenophobia in Ukraine’s courts
The latest court session regarding the dispute between TIU Canada and companies controlled by the oligarch, Igor Kolomoisky, seemed to give a slight glimmer...
Analysis
How can Ukraine vanquish Russia on the theocracy chessboard?
Granting Autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in 2019 not only had a strong impact on Ukrainian society's rethinking of traditional religious symbols -...
Afghanistan
A viable – and perhaps the only – path to lasting peace in Afghanistan
As each day goes by, the Taliban’s forces edge closer to controlling all of Afghanistan. In the first week of August, the Taliban swept...
Albania
Bulgaria begins slide toward new elections
The Bulgarian political world was shocked into action on August 10 when the party that won the country’s July 11 elections, There is Such...
Analysis
As the Gulf recovers, knowledge-based economies prove the way forward
As the world economy slowly emerges from the COVID crisis, it is the Gulf region that is making the most impressive rebounds.
At the beginning...
Analysis
The status of Crimea is far more complicated than the Western media admits
“If there were a moral to be drawn from the Crimean War which might apply to the present it would be this: in a...
Analysis
Is the EU learning any lessons from the pandemic?
The European Union - a powerful force for good or a self-serving bureaucratic oligarchy? Whatever your view, the EU is certainly a catalyst for...
Analysis
How the Austrians and their Chancellor charmed the Arabs
In late July, the Austrian capital of Vienna hosted a special guest. It was none other than the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. The...
Afghanistan
Afghanistan and the Great Powers
Can Afghanistan's never-ending internal conflict be resolved by the efforts of great and regional powers that have numerous conflicting strategic and global goals? Is...
Afghanistan
France has a generals problem: Why there’s a fray in civilian-military relations
The sensitive question of civilian control of the armed forces is one which Western democracies like the United States and France must continue to...
Analysis
Erdogan’s visit to the Turkish-occupied northern district of Cyprus
Whatever Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expected to come out of his visit to the occupied part of Cyprus – on the day that...
Analysis
Advances in genetic tests allow pregnant women to make informed healthcare decisions
The development of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) has afforded more pregnant women the chance to find out valuable health information. But access to NIPT...
Analysis
If Europe is serious about fighting antisemitism, it must skip Durban 20
Countries are lining up to declare they will not attend the20th anniversary of the UN’s notorious 2001 World Conference Against Racism, held in Durban,...
Afghanistan
Afghanistan: No peace without a clear vision
Peace is the absence of war, while war is the absence of peace! A negotiated peace in Afghanistan presents a number of challenges. The...
Analysis
To sanction or not? Will Ukraine’s National Security Council act?
The next chapter of the legal confrontation between TIU Canada and the oligarch Igor Kolomoisky over the illegal termination of TIU’s access to Ukraine’s...
Afghanistan
Making sense of the Italy-UAE rift
Earlier this month the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ordered the withdrawal of all Italian aircraft and personnel from its Al Minhad Air Force Base...
Analysis
Brexit triggers UK interest in Cypriot financial sector
Uncertainty over UK financial services’ EU market access post-Brexit has coincided with a surge in interest in a Cypriot scheme allowing companies temporary business...
Afghanistan
When the “New Middle East” meets the “New Europe”
Middle Eastern experts have commented widely on the “new” foreign policy of the United Arab Emirates. Many of these same commentators have gone so...
Analysis
EU foreign policy must stop alienating our trading partners
For an EU Commission that began with a grand statement of ‘geopolitical’ ambitions, the foreign policy strategy under Ursula von der Leyen and Josep...
Afghanistan
From Vienna to Tripoli, the Muslim Brotherhood’s impact is felt on both sides of the Mediterranean
Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has recently undertaken a number of legislative initiatives that target Islamist groups and movements, which are active within the country,...
Analysis
Rumble in the jungle looms as Equatorial Guinea looks to hire mercenaries to strengthen defence
A senior government team from Equatorial Guinea recently visited Israel to meet with the representatives of different private security companies. The team was led...
Afghanistan
A broken migration system
Turkey and Greece are both transit countries for migrants on their way to Germany and wealthy destinations in northern Europe. Migrants are resilient. Many...
Analysis
Ukraine’s “oligarch” bill
The recent introduction and subsequent passing on the first reading of what has become known as the “oligarch” bill is a sign of the...
Analysis
Denmark is leading the race against Russian hackers
‘Don’t open this e-mail from “McDonald’s”.’ The word ‘Warnings’ white against the green background, screams at me from the top of the mobile phone...
Afghanistan
Tribal truths: The wounds of the US’ Afghanistan exit
As a land heavily influenced by tribal practices, an Afghan proverb stating, “The wound of the sword will heal, but not that of the...
Analysis
Armenia’s post-election challenges
In the wake of Armenia’s recent early parliamentary election, incumbent Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is set to form a new government. Armed with a...
Albania
Balkan rumblings: Setbacks on enlargement and new Prespes violations
Against the backdrop of another EU presidency (Portugal) failing to move ahead this month on the Enlargement issue as well as a generally slow...
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