HomeInvasion of Ukraine
Invasion of Ukraine
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
From shovels to shadows: The Soviet legacy behind Georgia’s authoritarian drift
In the early hours of April 9, 1989, Soviet paratroopers launched a brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters in Tbilisi, the capital of the then-Georgian...
Columns
EU Commission plans Russian gas phaseout as MEPs propose easing pre-winter storage targets
Ensuring gas supply security ahead of the winter season, the European Parliament approved in Strasbourg on May 8 the Commission's proposal to extend the...
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...
Sanctions and related policies
Ignoring Russia, latest Trump administration Iran sanctions increase pressure on an old enemy
On March 13, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned (“designated” in OFAC language) Iran’s Minister of Petroleum, Mohsen...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Weaning Europe off its Russian gas addiction
The Viking hero Ragnar Lodbrok once said “don't waste your time looking back. You're not going that way.” The words of the former king...
Germany
Despite slippage, Germany’s political center appears to hold
Germany’s February 23 parliamentary elections played out largely along predicted lines, with the main question on election day being how many parties would reach...
Invasion of Ukraine
EU leaders in Kyiv back Ukraine, but Trump won’t blame Russia
On the three-year anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, European leaders travelled to Kyiv to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky and to declare their...
Critical Infrastructure
Nord Stream: Still searching for pipe dreams
The unexpected and seemingly uncoordinated start of preliminary "peace negotiations" between the U.S., Russia, (and potentially Ukraine) has fuelled speculation about the future of...
Invasion of Ukraine
The dance begins: Rubio and Lavrov engage (alone) on Ukraine
Clearly working overtime to move the U.S.-Russia peace effort for Ukraine forward, both countries’ foreign ministers met on February 18 in Riyadh for the...
Russia Sanctions
The Biden administration’s parting gift to Russia: Still more sanctions
Clearly working overtime to underscore the Biden administration’s desire to inflict maximum economic pain on Moscow and its coterie of Ukraine invasion supporters outside...
Critical Infrastructure
Undeclared “open season” on energy infrastructure in Europe
Russia is claiming it has shot down nine Ukrainian drones that tried to attack the TurkStream pipeline, which carries Russian gas to Europe through...
Russia Sanctions
Stringent new energy sector sanctions on Russia announced
On January 10, the U.S. Government released a massive new listing of over 200 entities and individuals involved in Russia’s energy sector for Ukraine-related...
Critical Infrastructure
NATO and EU strengthen Baltic Sea infrastructure protection after Estlink2 undersea power cable damaged
The damage of an undersea power cable off the coast of Finland in the Baltic Sea is the latest in a series of suspected...
Columns
EU searches for alternatives before Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine stops
The Ukrainian government has repeatedly stated that it will not extend a transit agreement, which has provided political, commercial, technical and legal grounds for...
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...
Russia Sanctions
U.S. sanctions Russian banks, finance officials and securities registrars
The U.S. announced on November 21 new sanctions targeting Russia’s largest remaining non-designated bank (Gazprombank), as well as dozens of other financial institutions and...
Defense & Security
Allies condemn the DPRK’s deployment of troops to Russia
The G7 countries, the EU as well as Australia, South Korea, and New Zealand on November 6 expressed "grave concern" over the deployment of...
Energy
EU-GCC to expand cooperation on green energy, minerals, and bringing peace to Ukraine
The EU heads of state and government and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) held their first summit on October 16 in Brussels under the...
China
Drone producers in China and Russia face new U.S. sanctions
In recent months, the Biden administration’s sanctions taskmasters at the State and Treasury Departments have clearly gone into overdrive, designating new targets/entities at least...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Supplying Russia and Iran, Armenia emerges as a new sanctions black hole
For the past two years, Armenia has been attempting to demonstrate its shift towards the West, all the while maintaining its geopolitical role as...
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...
Invasion of Ukraine
G7 Foreign Ministers condemn Tehran’s export and Russia’s procurement of Iranian ballistic missiles
The foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized powers condemned on September 14 "in the strongest terms" Iran's sales and Russia's purchases...
Oil & Gas
The plot thickens again for Nord Stream sabotage
New developments and disclosures regarding the act of sabotage that blew up the Nord Stream pipelines from Russia to Germany nearly two years ago,...
Oil & Gas
Hungary, Slovakia sweetheart deal with Brussels keeps the Russian oil flowing through Ukraine
The energy crisis that has been caused by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine continued after Kyiv imposed in late June of this year a...
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.,...
Energy
Russia failing to replace lucrative European gas deliveries with sales to China
Russia’s attempts to build the Power of Siberia 2 (PS-2) natural gas pipeline to China appear to be stalling despite repeated statements from Moscow...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Jeffrey Sachs: three times a traitor
An economist with an international reputation, Professor Jeffrey Sachs has increasingly raised his profile in the world media. A U.S. citizen, he accuses his...
Asia & Pacific
Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), and the U.S. condemn DPRK-Russia Cooperation
During his June 19-20 visit to Pyongyang, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty...
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...
Disasters and Reconstruction Initiatives
Berlin Ukraine Recovery Conference
Although partially overshadowed by urgent Ukrainian requests for emergency help with its immediate air defense needs, as well as political shockwaves emanating from the...
Russia Sanctions
New wave of U.S. sanctions target Russia’s foreign suppliers and industrial base
On May 1, the U.S. Department of State together with the U.S. Treasury Department unveiled a wide-ranging new list of anti-Russia sanctions covering an...
Disasters and Reconstruction Initiatives
U.S.-Ukraine Partnership Forum focuses on engaging the private sector in Ukraine’s Recovery
On April 17, in partnership with the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and USAID, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce hosted...
Russia Sanctions
U.S. and U.K. take new steps to reduce Russia’s revenue from metals
On April 12, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, in coordination with the United Kingdom, issued two new prohibitions in order to disrupt the...
Democracy & Human Rights
U.S. joins International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children
On March 7, the office of the spokesperson at the U.S. Department of State issued a media note, clearly meant to be circulated in...
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...
Russia Sanctions
New U.S. Russia sanctions widen scope, adding 500 new targets
The U.S. State Department released a comprehensive list of new sanctions measures on February 23, clearly the culmination of months of preparation in order...
Invasion of Ukraine
Canada and aiding the democratic cause in Ukraine
Though the funding of Ukraine’s war against Russia remains the main topic of the American Congress, Ukraine’s relationship with its other key Western partners,...
Defense & Security
First Ukraine, now Gaza: the impact of war has set us back on climate change
Discussions of man-made global warming are usually based on a 1-degree Celsius rise since 1880 due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal,...
Democracy & Human Rights
Kafka in Kyiv — Why artists count in a time of war when the world has gone to hell one more time….
It was three o'clock in the morning and I was on a train heading to a war zone.I asked myself "why" I was going...
Ukraine
Ukraine’s persecuted mayor
Lest it be forgotten, the major thematic issue in post-Maidan and pre-war Ukraine was, and continues to be, the transformation of Ukrainian society along...
Economy & Business
New US actions against corruption and Russian malign influence in the Western Balkans
On November 16, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, known by its acronym OFAC, designated eight individuals and six...
Economy & Business
Rebuilding Ukraine: Opportunities and concerns for foreign businesses
Such is the scale of the effort required to rebuild Ukraine that the World Bank in March 2023 estimated it at $411 billion. That...
Democracy & Human Rights
On confronting evil in the modern world
Now is an appropriate time to morally clarify the underlying narrative of what is happening in Israel and Ukraine.
Survivors of the last century’s greatest...
Invasion of Ukraine
It takes time to defeat a dictatorship
Whether it is acknowledged or not, Ukraine and the West are in the process of learning a very hard but essential lesson about the...
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...
Disasters and Reconstruction Initiatives
US Special Representative for Ukraine’s Economic Recovery announced
President Joe Biden announced on September 14 the appointment of Penny Pritzker as the US Special Representative for Ukraine’s Economic Recovery.In this role, she...
Invasion of Ukraine
Moldova’s Maia Sandu is the ‘Iron Lady’ of Eastern Europe
As the war in Ukraine passes the year-and-a-half milestone, a critical ally for Kyiv and Washington is the tiny nation of the Republic of...
Economy & Business
Uzbekistan’s remarkable resurgence is a tale of growth, reform, potential
In an era characterized by global turbulence and uncertainty, there are few stories as compelling as that of Uzbekistan. A country that has weathered...
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...
Agriculture & Food Security
Possible new solutions to Ukraine’s grain export challenge emerge
In view of the collapse of the UN’s Black Sea Grain Initiative in July at Russia’s insistence, work is proceeding in multiple sectors to...
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