Defense & Security
NATO
Why it’s time to take the Russian-led military alliance seriously
The Russian-led military alliance, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), created headlines in January 2022 after 2,500 of its troops entered Kazakhstan to assist in restoring...
Defense & Security
The West’s disunity stems from the latent Russophilia; anti-Anglo-Americanism of key EU nations
If you personify countries by combining their politics with their national identity, it's amazing how representative the characters are. For example, the UK is...
Defense & Security
An appeasement policy: How Georgia lost its friends and got closer to its enemy
As tensions on the Ukrainian border have reached a fever pitch over the last several weeks, the overwhelming majority of NATO and the members...
Defense & Security
Ukraine is the big loser in the new Cold War between Russia and the West
The above is without question a provocative headline. The main question, however, is 'why draw such a negative conclusion from the current geopolitical confrontation...
Albania
Conflict in Ukraine and Kosovo are connected
Vladimir Putin claims that protecting ethnic Russians justifies military action against Ukraine. Putin’s concern for Ukraine’s Russian minority is bombastic. His greater global goal...
Archive
It’s time to rebrand or put the idea of a European Defense Force to rest
There are a few reoccurring issues that come up around the EU water cooler and that is the idea of a European Defense Force,...
Analysis
The Korean Peninsula should remain a security concern
With both South Korea and the United States focused on domestic matters – 2022 presidential race and 2022 midterm elections respectively, it will be...
Analysis
Why China cannot invade Taiwan
China’s recent aerial incursion in Taiwan air defense zone and President Xi Jinping’s confrontational remarks re-prompted a debate on whether or not Beijing is...
Archive
Why Biden shouldn’t use the ‘Summit for Democracy’ to start more Cold Wars
On December 9 and 10, President Biden will host a virtual “Summit for Democracy.” The gathering will bring together leaders from 110 countries who...
Defense & Security
The ‘European Army’ scheme is just a cover for France to get back into the big power game
The idea of a so-called 'European Army' has come in and out of fashion in the Brussels bubble for about 20 years. After each...
Analysis
Is Lukashenko setting a new trap for Europe?
One can hardly imagine the misery of the refugees at the border between Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. Thousands of people from Iraq, Syria and...
Archive
The EU and the hijab
Given my relentless, savage, repetitive and – if I may say so – eminently fair criticism of the European Union, I could easily forgive...
Archive
Following election flop, Zaev announces resignation plans
North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev announced his planned resignation on November 1 after his social-democratic party massively lost the second round of municipal...
Analysis
International courts are more vital than ever to protect human rights
There’s a disturbing trend sweeping Europe, as policymakers and judicial authorities alike attempt to skirt the authority of transnational courts. First, in keeping with...
Analysis
New political patterns in the South Caucasus
Developments in the South Caucasus continue to race ahead of Europe’s understanding of them. By the time an event has been noticed, recognized, digested,...
Archive
A dash of UK Hubris: Containing China
Hubris is a fickle emotion. Too much of it can be deadly, while too little of it can be crushing. A country with a...
Afghanistan
In US foreign policy, realists are finally on the rise
During the autumn of 2020, the United States lost one of its most brilliant, incisive, yet unheralded thinkers in Sherle R. Schwenninger.One of Schwenninger’s...
Albania
Greece again agrees to expand US defense cooperation
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias traveled to Washington October 13-14 to participate in a scheduled session of the US-Greece Strategic Dialogue, where he met...
Analysis
The need for trilateral cooperation in the Indo-Pacific
A coercive China and a nuclear North Korea are peripherally affecting the U.S.’ security interests in the Indo-Pacific. With increasingly well-developed power derived from...
Analysis
Defense pacts and energy in the Eastern Mediterranean
The Greeks have finally come to the realization that despite a period of relative calmness Turkey is not about to abandon its assertive behavior...
Afghanistan
Athens rocked by Biden’s nomination of political operative
After an extended period of uncertainty over who would be tapped, on October 8 US President Joe Biden announced his intention to nominate influential...
Analysis
The West needs to unite to fight for human rights
Human rights seem nonexistent in today’s world. That’s because the world’s democracies are not fighting for it.
While the world’s dictatorships always seem to have...
Afghanistan
Why the Taliban’s promise to stop the opium trade rings hollow
One of the first announcements the Taliban made after seizing power in Afghanistan in August was that they were going to “ban the production and sale...
Analysis
The road to conflict resolution in Karabakh
Events are moving quite quickly in the South Caucasus, although they have not yet reached a breakthrough. Nevertheless, the first anniversary of the outbreak...
Archive
AUKUS: A French ‘beurre noisette’ in the Indo-Pacific
Any fan of French haute gastronomy understands the prominent role that noisette beurre, or burnt butter, plays in their recipes. As the speciality adds...
Albania
Kosovo-Serbia tensions fading after deal reached
The slow-motion crisis between Kosovo and Serbia over automobile license plates that began with little notice on September 20 escalated into a tense show...
Afghanistan
Why the fall of Afghanistan sllows Iran to expand its influence
Since 2020, the United States has been working to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. The Americans' announcement emboldened the Taliban, who recently took control...
Analysis
Canada’s election and its meaning for Ukraine
Though it is hard to say, the recent election in Canada was a waste of money. After the expenditure of over $600 million (CDN),...
Analysis
Germany and its neo-imperial quest in Bosnia
When rumors first began to swirl in January about the possible appointment of Christian Schmidt as Europe's High Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina, I...
Afghanistan
With the AUKUS pact, the US has opted to snub some of its European partners
In the nearly nine months since he took office, it has become apparent that the US and European Union will not immediately experience a...
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...
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
What next after 20 years of war in Afghanistan? Anatol Lieven on the U.S.’ legacy and the Taliban’s rise
On August 30, 2021, a C-17 transport plane took off from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, signaling the end of America’s longest war....
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
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...
Afghanistan
How Erdogan will “manage” the Afghan refugee crisis
Images of Afghan refugees scrambling to escape Kabul following the Taliban’s seizure of power will haunt the international community for decades. According to the...
Afghanistan
Mikheil Saakashvili – The post-Soviet space’s once and future buffoon
It isn't every day you find yourself talking to a major figure of recent history, especially not one who has staged both a successful...
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...
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
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...
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...
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