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The Foreign Desk

Domestic operatives carried out cyberattacks on Iranian regime websites

Treadstone 71, a provider of cyber security consulting and training services, has published a new report on highly-publicized breaches of Iranian government websites and...

With Armenia defeated tensions between Yerevan and Russia reach a turning point

Relations between Armenia and its traditional strategic partner Russia are deteriorating fast. With Yerevan's fundamental defeat in Nagorno-Karabakh - the 30-year-old Moscow-backed separatist region...

The whims of dictators

Yevgeny Prigozhin’s death surprised no one when news broke that he was a passenger on a plane that had crashed while on its way...

Prigozhin’s inglorious rebellion

Images of camouflaged gunmen seizing government buildings in a post-Soviet city were eerily reminiscent of what the world witnessed in the spring of 2014...

Could this be the end of the Chekist renaissance?

Russia's once all-powerful successor to the KGB - the FSB - is watching its status crumble after major military defeats in Ukraine.

Putin threatens global security with renewed nuclear saber rattling

Putin's maniacal compulsion to start a nuclear war is not just a sinister ultimatum to world peace, it is simply mad.

The Winter War

With winter setting in, to guarantee a victory, Ukraine needs to further pressure the Europeans to act in a way that would fully solidify their own security interests, while also securing continued military and financial support from the US.

Boosting EU-Ukraine rail links is crucial for a common & prosperous future

Facing heavy losses on the frontlines, a weakened and desperate Russia has cynically ramped up strikes on civilian power infrastructure in Kyiv and other...

British MPs urge UK govt to support Iran’s ongoing protest movement

More than a dozen British lawmakers met this week with the Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi to discuss the ongoing protests in the Islamic...

The world’s poorest nations are suffering from Europe’s shortsighted sanctions regime

In the nearly three months since Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and a delegation from the UN met in Istanbul to hammer out an agreement that...

Europe’s agricultural sector is crying out for support amid energy and food crises

Europe’s energy crisis – which has been sparked mainly by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and President Putin’s subsequent curtailing of natural gas flows to...

The EU’s revised sanctions policy hinders vital supplies of Russian fertilizers to the Third World

The European Commission on August 29 published an updated text of clarifications on the application of sanctions for fertilizers produced or exported from Russia,...

Ex-Magna CEO could take control of Volkswagen’s assets in Russia 

The Russian media reported that Volkswagen AG could sell its Russian business – including an assembly plant and an internal combustion engine producer –...

Switzerland’s Svizraa files protest against limiting its operations in Latvia

The Swiss chartering and transportation company Svizraa S.A. has sent a letter to Latvia’s foreign affairs, economics and justice ministries in protest over their...

Could the EU backtrack on personal sanctions against some Russians?

The European Union is in talks about removing sanctions on some 40 Russians. The individuals were sanctioned on the basis of their alleged involvement...

Europe’s patience running thin for politicized judiciaries

After years of criticism over its rule of law violations, Poland has enjoyed a recent reprieve as the war in Ukraine caused the EU...

Endless war in Ukraine hurts national and global security

The United States' commitment towards helping Ukraine repel Russia's unprovoked invasion has been substantial. Congress passed the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act by a...

Europe must back agricultural innovation to help alleviate looming food crisis

Leading officials including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres are sounding the alarm over the alarming state of global food security. The war in Ukraine, Guterres...

Ukraine’s diaspora has a crucial role to play – now and in the future

As millions of refugees from war-torn Ukraine flow into the EU, the question of the Ukrainian diaspora – currently growing at record rates –...

As media independence backslides across the EU, will Brussels act?

In a move reflecting the anti-corruption agenda of Bulgaria’s new government, the parliament passed a bill that will abolish “golden passports” – a scheme...

The EU must address its own rule of law issues before reforming the Western Balkans

A damning recent report from the European Court of Auditors (ECA) indicates that the EU has achieved next to nothing with the €700 million...

Instability in Libya is set to exacerbate Europe’s migrant crisis

At least four dinghies reached the shore at Dungeness in Kent on Sunday, carrying dozens of people desperate to reach Britain before worsening winter...

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