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EU Institutions
Iran’s influence peddling at the European Parliament
The Iranian dictatorship is able to use the services of agents disguised as “political advisors” to serve the interests of a foreign and hostile power that is out to undermine the very core of European democracy.
Columns
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.
EU Institutions
The end of Europe
The European Union is simply too big; it is composed of too many cultures and political perspectives; and, despite Brussels' claim that it values diversity over all other issues, this does not include a deviation from what it considers its own norms. As matters currently stand, the EU runs the risk of collapsing under its own weight.
Columns
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.
Defense & Security
Neutral but not neutered: Ireland’s security needs to be nurtured
The Irish people have been a beacon of light against darkness, hatred and genocide. But Ireland needs to do more to contribute to the dismantling of autocracies, the self-determination of peoples still shackled by remnant empires and the emancipation and empowerment of all underprivileged people.
Europe & Eurasia
Has Armenia killed the South Caucasus peace process?
Despite the issuance elaborate diplomatic statements detailing the various policy spheres in which discussions were held, Armenia’s prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, publicly stated that “no concrete results” had been reached regarding a peace deal between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Kosovo
Latest Kosovo unrest less than meets the eye
Most observers of Balkan developments will agree that a Kosovo crisis of various flavors seems to emerge with some regularity around the holiday season...
Invasion of Ukraine
Pentagon’s reported change on targeting could result in a more costly, earlier defeat for Moscow
The idea that a country which Russians have been told could never put up effective resistance is actually winning, dragging their country into a grim battle of attrition, will do more to make Russian people doubt their leadership than any inhumane rocket attack against their cities.
Energy
Oil prices shrug off cap as Russia fires back with price floor threat
Oil markets will likely stay volatile in the near term amid uncertainty over the impact on Russian output from the EU's ban, headlines on China's COVID policy and central bank movements in the U.S. and Europe.
Iran
Ignored for too long, Europe should realize a democratic Iran is closer than ever
The unity of urban intellectuals and the more underprivileged sectors of Iranian society poses a unique challenge to the regime.
Iran
Iran’s protests underscore the strength and viability of a democratic alternative
The mullahs are struggling to maintain their hold on power. Western nations should support the people’s will by further isolating the regime, closing Iranian embassies and halting diplomatic relations. The clerical regime may have once seemed an immovable fixture of the Middle East landscape, but this isn’t the case any longer.
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.
Bulgaria
Schengen Zone tremblors center on Bulgaria and Romania
The Netherlands announced on December 2 that it will accept Romania and Croatia's joining the EU’s special passport-free Schengen Zone but intended to block...
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan’s opening of an embassy in Israel is a major tectonic shift on the regional geopolitical map
With the regional geopolitical situation as it is, and amidst pressure and threats on multiple fronts, Azerbaijan has responded with a key decision to bolster relations with a key ally by formally opening an embassy in Israel.
Newsletter
How running on mainstream ideas won the day in the US midterm elections
The Democratic Party succeeded in winning the mainstream by backing candidates from the center-left and running on an agenda that made progress one of the priorities of American voters.
Energy
BMW tests green hydrogen, but holds steady combustion engines
German auto manufacturer BMW still relies on combustion engines, but the future for cars in cities is electric, according to the company's Vice President Peter Lehnert.
Newsletter
Election deniers still don’t know how democracy works
Trump Republicans, whose candidates lost, claim the results are inaccurate and illegitimate. Their criticism and demands, including calls for new elections, are based on misperceptions of how ballots are obtained, cast, and counted.
Columns
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.
Democracy & Human Rights
We are fighting for the freedom of all Iranians. Where does Europe stand?
Western governments should recognize the Iranian people’s right to defend themselves, and they should isolate the regime completely.
Newsletter
Human pre-history experienced transformative changes that fundamentally altered our evolution
We live in a fast-moving, technology-dominated era. Happiness is fleeting, and everything is replaceable or disposable. It is understandable that people are drawn to...
Africa
Mozambique can become a major energy partner for Europe in return for governance & security support
The government of Mozambique recently hosted the 42nd Joint Parliamentary Assembly, a collection of African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, along with the EU, as...
Iran
Opposition leader tells Irish MPs Iran is going through a major transformative period
Iranian Resistance leader Maryam Rajavi met virtually with members of the Irish parliament on November 16, two months into the wave of protests that...
Interviews
Italy sees close cooperation with NATO as key to Europe’s strategic defense
Europe needs to avoid, at all costs, any form of decoupling between EU defense cooperation and the transatlantic alliance.
Refugees & Migration
Unexpected migration woes
Brussels has, in the case of the migrant problem, proven that the EU's feckless bureaucrats are persuasive only when they carry a big stick against those that openly mock them.
Africa
Ethiopia’s peace deal is critical for Africa on many levels
Ethiopia is one of the few countries in Africa with the food production potential to help meet the shortfall in the continent’s imports of cereal crops from Ukraine.
Invasion of Ukraine
How the US midterm elections could impact Ukraine
Ukrainians understand that only they can win the war. The country does not need foreign intervention to defeat Putin. But to win, they need the help of the US.
Newsletter
One rule for life & what maps mean: Keep Jordan Peterson away from Ukraine
For Peterson to refer to Russia's invasion as an ‘incursion’ is nothing more than insulting. The word does not make allowances for the wholesale destruction of cities, the occupation of territory and the murder of the inhabitants.
Newsletter
Helping women lead across the Mediterranean
Female unemployment rate remains well below the global average. More than half of working women are employed informally, with low-wage jobs and fewer rights than men.
Invasion of Ukraine
Nine months is enough
Getting Russian civil society to converge on peaceful alternatives and a different narrative than the Kremlin’s is the key to de-concentrating political power.
Disinformation & Propaganda
Cryptocurrencies: The new age of terror financing
The misuse of cryptocurrencies by violent extremist groups and individuals has emerged as a new and additional financing technology.
Democracy & Human Rights
Musk plans to profit from Twitter, not create a town square for global democracy
As a privately owned company, Twitter will now only answer to Musk and his underlings, not to shareholders.
Belarus
How a secret Lithuanian partner helped a Belarusian oligarch make billions
Chyzh and Tomaszevski earned more than $5 billion in Belarus from the manipulation of customs codes for petroleum products by marking them as “solvents”.
Columns
As its war efforts fail, Moscow works to disable Ukraine’s power grid
Russia’s continued attacks on the energy infrastructure of Ukraine are especially focused on disabling heat generation, diminishing the country’s power supply.
Brazil
Lula squeaks out a victory in Brazilian runoff
Lula championed himself as a defender of freedom and framed the election as a choice between “democracy and fascism'.
Democracy & Human Rights
Ukraine and the establishment of a new European order
Once beholden to various empires throughout its history, Ukraine has morally discredited the notion of empire-building in Europe.
China
Chinese operatives accused of supporting Huawei in the US
Chinese spies were conducting foreign intelligence operations to impede an ongoing investigation involving the technology and communications firm Huawei.
Democracy & Human Rights
The Iranian people have committed to a revolution, so where is the West?
Huge changes have occurred in Iran's political landscape since the start of the protests two months ago. Western governments, however, need to unequivocally and immediately back the movement instead of playing lip-service to vague notions of solidarity and outrage.
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.
Defense & Security
The West’s past foreign policy mistakes have extended the Iranian regime’s lifespan
Middle Eastern misadventures have affected the West’s political psyche. With thousands dead and trillions wasted, any protracted military campaign abroad will be considered doomed to fail before it has even begun.
Disinformation & Propaganda
Democracy in the Republic of the Internet is backsliding
The internet has become a powerful enemy of any authoritarian regime; one that these regimes have increasingly fought to weaken.
Columns
Erdogan & Putin’s plan to create a gas hub in Turkey is a purely anti-Western political ploy
The initiative would be a significant political move by Ankara and Moscow that directly challenges the West and its support for Ukraine.
Economy & Business
Time to listen to the voice of freelancers
It is of utmost importance that politicians do not create a legislative framework which forces all workers into an outdated 9 to 5 model.
Democracy & Human Rights
The South Caucasus peace process should address war crimes issues
The EU must do more to ensure peace in the South Caucasus.
Invasion of Ukraine
Contemplating evil in Ukraine
According to the Geneva Conventions, Russia is perpetrating genocide against the Ukrainian people.
Medicine
Research, tech advancements in tobacco and nicotine products provide harm reduction options to smokers, but who’s listening?
If a large majority of tobacco smokers, who are unable or unwilling to quit, would switch without delay to using an alternative source of nicotine with lower health risks, and eventually stop using it, this would represent a significant contemporary public health achievement.
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