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Global Affairs
Terrorism
New U.S. Terrorist Designations in Europe and Latin America
As the U.S. Government shutdown has ended, a number of temporarily closed foreign affairs offices/functions have just re-opened, and we should expect to see...
Russia Sanctions
Watering down U.S. Russia sanctions for Hungary – what was gained?
For a while, it appeared as if the war in Ukraine was again a top priority in the White House, but ultimately that turned...
Energy
Cyprus, Greece, Israel and U.S. commit to deeper East Mediterranean energy cooperation
Following the 3+1 Energy Ministerial, Cyprus, Greece, Israel and the United States declared common intent to promote energy security and cooperation in the Eastern...
Europe & Eurasia
U.S. and Central Asia agree to extend and deepen economic ties
U.S. President Donald Trump presided over a historic meeting with five Central Asian leaders on November 6 at the White House in a period...
Sanctions and related policies
DPRK cybercrime and illicit IT workers targeted by new U.S. sanctions
North Korean (DPRK) state-linked cyber actors have stolen and laundered billions of dollars (primarily cryptocurrency) using a global ecosystem of hackers, shell companies, front...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Serbia’s energy dilemma: How to break from Russia and save its stability
Serbia’s energy “decoupling” from Russia seems to be on the horizon. The Southeast European nation, long heavily dependent on Russian gas -- and, to...
Oil & Gas
Israel’s planned Nitzana pipeline to Egypt gains momentum
Israel's planned Nitzana pipeline that will be constructed from Ramat Hovav, near Beersheba in the Negev desert, to the border with Egypt in the...
Russia Sanctions
As Trump’s Ukraine peace initiative fades, new U.S. sanctions unleashed
The war in Ukraine is again front and center in the White House. While U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace drive had started to...
Interviews
AI solutions for energy and environmental sustainability
In an exclusive interview with NE Global at India’s Woxsen University in Hyderabad, Raul V. Rodriguez, Vice President and Steven Pinker Professor of Cognitive...
IMO
The IMO gets a taste of Trump’s “America First” foreign policy
After failing to reach consensus on an emissions reduction measure amid strong U.S. pressure, a majority of countries at the UN’s International Maritime Organization...
Environment
Strategic competition increases in the Arctic fueled by climate change
Finnish President Alexander Stubb broke the ice with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump quite literally, sealing an agreement on October 9 for the U.S....
Sanctions and related policies
After the “snapback,” large new set of U.S. Iran sanctions announced
Less than two weeks after the reimposition of United Nations “snapback” sanctions on Iran on September 27, the U.S. Government announced a substantial new...
Environment
From Baku to Belém, COP30 works to salvage global climate action commitments
Ahead of COP30 UN talks in the Amazon city of Belém, Brazil, the second Baku Climate Action Week in Azerbaijan on September 29 to...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
When Will Ukraine Become the Outpost of European Defense?
The security landscape of the European continent hinges on the European Union’s determination to halt Russia’s unprovoked aggression against Ukraine and to prevent the...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Solidarity or strategic interest? Qatar’s role in the future of least developed countries
At the recent High-Level Meeting for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), held in Seville on the sidelines of the Fourth International Conference on Financing...
Sanctions and related policies
UN sanctions reimposed on Iran after commitments breached
Back on August 28, France, Germany, and the UK (the so-called “E3”) formally initiated the process to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran aka "snapback."...
United Nations
The UN at 80 — Little to celebrate with multilateralism under stress
Like clockwork, at the end of September, many of the world’s leaders converge on New York for the annual UN General Assembly (UNGA) session...
Disasters and Reconstruction Initiatives
Washington kickstarts the U.S. – Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund
The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) announced on September 17 a $75 million equity commitment to the U.S.- Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund that...
Espionage
MI6 launches new dark web portal as UK targets agents in Russia, Iran, China
The Secret Intelligence Service of the United Kingdom, commonly known as MI6, launched on September 19 a new dark web portal to recruit operatives...
Interviews
AI can push a “democratization“ in film production
During this year’s Venice Film Festival, NE Global sat down with Chen Zhuo, CEO and Founder of Singapore-based company FizzDragon.
The pioneering Artificial Intelligence Generated...
Sudan
Washington sanctions Sudanese Islamist actors
On September 12, the U.S. Department of the Treasury through the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on two Sudanese Islamist actors...
Major Projects
Ethiopia inaugurates the largest dam in Africa as Egypt and Sudan raise Nile water concerns
Ethiopia inaugurated on September 9 the largest hydropower project ever built in Africa which could transform the country into an electricity exporter and boost...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
When Drones Cross the Line
In the early hours of 10 September, a wave of Russian drones launched against targets in Ukraine crossed a dangerous threshold both literally and...
United Nations
United States sanctions foreign NGOs engaged in ICC’s targeting of Israel
Further increasing tension between the U.S. and the UN ahead of this month’s UN General Assembly, scheduled to begin the UN's 80th anniversary celebrations...
Transnational Criminal Organizations
U.S. and Mexico focus on expanded security cooperation as fight against drug cartels intensifies
On September 3, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum in Mexico City where he declared that security cooperation...
China
Symbolic optics from China or movement toward a new global order?
With the UN General Assembly in New York less than a month away, China’s leadership was able to grab global attention for many days...
Invasion of Ukraine
Trump’s Ukraine peace initiative appears to stall
U.S. President Donald Trump’s summer of disrupting almost everything is now winding down with major peace agreements still eluding him, along with a potential...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Central Asia: An Aladdin’s Cave of Critical Minerals
For most of the three decades since independence, the Central Asian “stans” and the countries in the Caucasus attracted little attention from western governments....
Invasion of Ukraine
Alaska summit hands Putin formal recognition but yields few results
U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin met for the first time in six years to discuss peace for Ukraine in...
Europe & Eurasia
Azerbaijan, Armenia agree to end conflict, unlock South Caucasus economic potential
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, in the presence of U.S. President Donald Trump, signed a Joint Declaration on August...
Counternarcotics
WANTED Nicolas Maduro: U.S. increases bounty for Venezuelan President as narcotics trafficker
The United States announced on August 7 it had doubled its reward offer for the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to $50 million...
United Nations
At Hiroshima bombing anniversary, UN head says the risk of nuclear conflict is growing
As the risk of nuclear conflict grows and geopolitical divisions widen, the world has a shared duty to protect future generations from the horrors...
Sanctions and related policies
U.S. expands sanctions against malicious actors in Middle East
Waiting for U.S. President Donald Trump’s go-ahead for new sanctions against Russia and its major oil customers, due in early August, Washington’s army of...
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...
United Nations
United States to again withdraw from UNESCO
On July 22, U.S. State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce announced that Washington had informed United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Audrey...
United Nations
Washington expands sanctions campaign against UN organs denouncing Israel
The U.S. State Department announced on July 9 that it is issuing sanctions against Francesca Albanese, the U.N. Special Rapporteur for the West Bank...
Sanctions and related policies
U.S. sanctions malicious North Korean and Russian cyber actors
The U.S. has been working to crack down on what it warns is a wide-scale, concerted effort by North Korea to dupe American firms...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Moldova: Engaging neighbors, not just Global powers
In this era of Great Power competition, or Cold War 2.0, there are a plethora of analyses and commentaries about evolving geopolitical affairs, including...
Major Projects
U.S. – Africa Business Summit generates $2.5 billion in commitments and agreements
This year, 12 of the world’s 20 fastest-growing economies are in Africa, making it the second-fastest-growing region globally - trailing only Asia.
For decades, U.S....
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...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
The Israel-Iran conflict in our perspective
In the Albanian public debate on the armed conflict between Israel and Iran, a prevailing notion has been the contrast between Israel, a democracy...
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...
United Nations
Washington orders sanctions responding to ICC actions targeting the United States and Israel
On June 5, the United States announced sanctions against four judges currently serving as International Criminal Court (ICC) judges for what it described as...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
First, Sudanese Armed Forces use chemical weapons, strikes against civilians: now cholera compounds the misery
The determination of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) to crush all resistance to its imposition of hegemony over all of Sudan, which has already...
Democracy & Human Rights
U.S. – Venezuela standoff continues amid growing pressure
The standoff between the U.S. and Venezuela over a number of open issues is slowly reaching the boiling point, while Secretary of State Marco...
Trade
Terrific or Terrible Tariffs with the Sorcerer’s Apprentice
There is a very good chance that most of you will have seen the Walt Disney’s animation film Fantasia, which came out in 1940,...
Defense & Security
United Kingdom and the Republic of Mauritius resolve the Chagos Islands issue
The United Kingdom agreed on May 22 to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, after a last-minute legal challenge was thrown out...
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....
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
What chance for peace in Sudan?
The conflict in Sudan has raged for two years, causing immense human suffering, regional instability, arms proliferation and massive displacement of the population. South...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Taking off: Qatar’s strategic rise in global aviation
For Qatar, an important development took place recently as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), approved the final phase of its own airspace, the...
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