Trade
Trump trade deal leaves some in EU unhinged
U.S. President Donald Trump completed his five-day “private visit” to Scotland on July 25-29, which beyond his golf course visits included a number of...
Defense & Security
NATO shifts into high gear at 2025 Hague Summit
Many are calling the June 24-25 NATO Summit in the Hague “the Trump Summit,” noting it was “historic” and “transformational.” But most of the...
Canada
Alberta G7 Summit – forgotten before it ended?
One song that will never be associated with the June 15-18 Alberta G7 Summit is Nat King Cole’s “Unforgettable."
While this year’s Canada-hosted G7 Summit...
The Middle East
In search of jobs and treasure: Trump’s first overseas jaunt takes a distinctly commercial angle
U.S. President Donald Trump completed a four-day tour of the Middle East on May 13-16, visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates....
Economy & Business
Doom, gloom or boom?
While it is an almost painful daily task to ascertain where the Trump administration is positioned on the question of tariff policy, and traders...
Germany
Germany removes key debt brake budget limits in historic move
Rushing to arrive at a workable arrangement before the new post-election German parliament convened on March 25, Friedrich Merz’s victorious CDU/CSU bloc and the...
Economy & Business
Global reaction to Trump tariffs only reinforces his use of this tired and risky strategy
True to form, U.S. President Donald Trump disrupted global markets with a three-day surge of tariff announcements, border security negotiations and ultimately a 30-day...
USA
Donald Trump is inaugurated amidst promises of security, stability and prosperity
After storming a frigid Washington D.C. during his extended inauguration festivities on January 20, Donald J Trump, America’s 47th and 45th President, launched a...
Electoral Procedures and Fraud
Righteous indignation over Maduro’s inauguration unlikely to change Venezuela’s dark reality
President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela was sworn in on January 10 for his third six-year term. Promising that his third term would be one...
Zero Tolerance
Is there any hope for a democratic and peaceful Syria?
Most observers will argue that a democratic and peaceful Syria is just a pipedream, but at least in the first weeks since Bashar-al-Assad’s rushed...
Zero Tolerance
Lula’s G20 Rio Summit: Forgettable but not inconsequential
Seen from the perspective of a week after the November 19-20 Rio de Janeiro Summit, but before the event has completely receded into the...
Zero Tolerance
IMF pronounces victory over inflation while sounding debt and tariff warnings
The 2024 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) took place in Washington D.C. from October 21...
Zero Tolerance
UNGA 2024 overshadowed by Middle East turmoil
At the end of September, as usual, most of the world’s leaders converge on New York for the annual UN General Assembly (UNGA) session...
Defense & Security
NATO Summit: “Trump-proofing” Ukraine support while Biden appearances under a microscope
The July 9-11 NATO Summit was originally envisioned as a celebration of the alliance’s 75th anniversary at the organization’s founding venue in Washington D.C.,...
Invasion of Ukraine
G7 Summit focuses on Ukraine support and shattering Russia’s wartime economy
Despite last week’s expert punditry (itself almost indistinguishable from AI) on the latest G7 decisions as exhibited by the “instant experts” on global issues...
North Macedonia
North Macedonia: Resuming course towards the political dark side?
As most analysts predicted after the strong showing of the nationalist presidential candidate in the first-round presidential elections on April 24, VMRO-DPMNE (Internal Macedonian...
Defense & Security
New U.S.-Japan-Philippines Pacific bulwark established
The leaders of Japan, the Philippines, and the United States met in Washington April 11 for the first ever trilateral summit with a deep...
Russia Sanctions
Russia sanctions remain a powerful tool to support Ukraine’s defense
Western leaders should not dismiss the two-year long sanctions campaign (as opposed to the 2014 Crimea sanctions) as unsuccessful simply because the Kremlin has...
Transport
Investors Forum brings the Middle Corridor into EU-wide focus
Huge investment numbers were thrown around in Brussels January 29-30 at the Global Gateway Investors Forum for the European Union – Central Asia Transport...
Transport
Kazakhstan accelerating efforts to expand the strategic Middle Corridor
The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, which is frequently referred to as the Middle Corridor, is a multilateral institutional development project linking the containerized rail...
United Nations
UN General Assembly 2023: More progress urgently needed on Sustainable Development Goals
The 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) kicked off in New York as planned on September 18, with global attention focused on the so-called...
Zero Tolerance
Zelensky Athens visit eclipses Mitsotakis’ informal Western Balkans Summit
Receiving a full house of Western Balkan leaders, as well as several EU luminaries, in Athens on an evening when much of northern Greece...
EU Institutions
Latest gambit in North Macedonia seeks to break impasse with Bulgaria
At the end of July, the largest ethnic Albanian political party in North Macedonia, the Democratic Union for Integration, presented an innovative proposal to...
Greece
Back to Business: Greek conservatives rout socialist opposition parties in second round elections
Delivering an undeniable demonstration of Greece’s current focus on stability and the need to generate continued economic growth, the June 25 election produced the...
Greece
Boomerang! Greek socialists’ election jiggering backfires
Even though the Greek left-socialist party Syriza massively reconfigured the electoral system in 2016 to favor their long-term return plans before being ousted by...
Zero Tolerance
Silicon Valley Bank financial contagion contained – for now
The world’s top policymakers and international financial leaders acted effectively in the days following the collapse of California’s Silicon Valley Bank. They appear to have dealt positively with the risk of wider global financial contagion.
Invasion of Ukraine
Sanctions, sanctions everywhere
On February 24, 2023, the US Government alongside G-7 leaders announced via a White House statement a new set of trade and economic measures...
Greece
Eclipsed by Ukraine concerns, Blinken visits Turkey and Greece
After attending the Munich Security Conference on February on 17-19, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken departed for a brief regional mission to Turkey...
The Philippines
US & Philippines agree to ramp up defense cooperation
The US and Philippines announced on February 2 a substantial expansion of their existing military cooperation arrangements, increasing the number of facilities that American...
Bulgaria
Bulgaria again heads towards elections
Bulgaria is now moving towards its fifth parliamentary election in two years as a result of the failure of the latest group of elected...
Croatia
Croatia advances to the EU mainstream
Croatia took a decisive step January 1 towards the mainstream of the European project by adopting the Euro as its currency while at the...
Albania
EU Tirana Summit: Enlargement must go on
The summit's generic one size fits all “membership perspective” statement was seen as good news by most after the topic of EU Enlargement had become a highly controversial subject.
Analysis
Miami morphs into a global business hub, can it last?
Due to Florida’s less stringent COVID restrictions, a political strategy driven by the state’s Republican governor, Florida became a vastly more attractive location for individuals able to work remotely.
Zero Tolerance
Washington sanctions BiH officials undermining Dayton Agreement
On October 3, the US Department of State announced the designation of two individuals and one commercial entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) for...
Zero Tolerance
Biden’s choice takes the reins at the American Embassy in Athens
US President Joe Biden’s nominee as next Ambassador to Greece George Tsunis arrived in Athens May 7, a day after his career diplomat predecessor...
Zero Tolerance
Moscow drains dwindling reserves to avert default
With most of its foreign currency reserves held abroad frozen by Western sanctions and inaccessible, Moscow was forced to tap its precious domestically held...
Albania
After Macron victory, Enlargement diplomacy back on the radar
With the war in Ukraine and the noise surrounding the French presidential elections, the subject of EU Enlargement into the Western Balkans had almost...
Economy & Business
Sanctions expand as Russia approaches major default
No American President ever travels to Europe without a bag full of so-called “deliverables” and US President Joe Biden duly arrived in Brussels last...
Economy & Business
Pressed by sanctions, Russia narrowly escapes default
While the global sanctions campaign against Russia is not yet a month old, investors and sanctioneers held their breath this week as Russia struggled...
Economy & Business
Russia sanctions – Now comes the hard part
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine moves into the third week, a broad network of financial, travel and trade sanctions has been established in fairly...
Invasion of Ukraine
As the global sanctions net tightens, weak spots emerge
After the second phase of heavy western economic sanctions on Russia was announced in the final days of February, new coordination mechanisms are being...
Invasion of Ukraine
EU Russia sanctions close in on finance, trade, aviation, media
Russia’s military advance across Ukraine has galvanized global public opinion to the point that timid EU governments and the Brussels bureaucracy have been forced...
Invasion of Ukraine
Ukraine – First wave of sanctions fails to deter Moscow
Over the past few days, practically everyone in the public media has become a Ukraine sanctions expert, regardless of actual experience in this field. ...
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Will the EU order sanctions on the Republika Srpksa?
In the latest phase of Bosnia’s seemingly never-ending battle over competencies, members of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska in Banja Luka voted on...
Bulgaria
Sofia and Skopje begin joint effort to resolve conflict
Hoping to generate enough material to prevent Sofia’s cadre of Balkan reporters from decamping to nearby ski resorts, the governments of North Macedonia and...
Bulgaria
Petkov’s underwhelming Skopje visit opens a door
Bulgaria’s new Prime Minister Kiril Petkov visited Skopje January 18, after completing a bit more than a month in his new job. The only...
Greece
Biden’s Greece nominee survives Senate hearing
George Tsunis, President Joe Biden’s nominee as next ambassador to Greece, survived his January 12 hearing with the Democratic-majority Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC),...
Greece
Biden’s Greece nominee survives Senate hearing
George Tsunis, President Joe Biden’s nominee as next ambassador to Greece, survived his January 12 hearing with the Democratic-majority Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC),...
Albania
Mitsotakis lightning Bulgaria visit has regional focus
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited Sofia December 20, opening contacts with the new Bulgarian government through meetings with newly elected Bulgarian PM Kiril...
Archive
Bulgaria’s new government maintains Enlargement veto
While Bulgaria’s November 14 elections managed to break the political logjam that had paralyzed the country for most of 2021, which required three consecutive...
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