Peter Tanham, IT
The first three decades of the internet have been shaped by US values. That could change
Caroline Rose, Geop. Futures
Turkey’s economy is in dire straits. In September, the Turkish lira fell to a 20-year low as investors withdrew billions from Turkey’s currency bond and stock market. In a scramble to keep its currency afloat, the government has blown through almost half the foreign reserves it had at the beginning of the year. With little liquidity left and its largest banks on the brink of collapse, Ankara has realized that its...
Khalid Hassan, Al Monitor
Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Cyprus, Greece and Italy signed the charter to transform the EastMed Gas Forum into a regional organization based in Cairo, in an attempt to form an international lobby capable of confronting Turkish ambitions in the eastern Mediterranean.
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Ben Cahill & Nikos Tsafos, CSIS
Qatar is moving forward with a massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) capacity expansion in spite of the current glut in the market and longer-term questions over the role of gas in the energy transition. Qatar is betting that it can dissuade other prospective LNG suppliers and outcompete them through scale, low production costs, and co-production of condensates and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). In launching this expansion, Qatar faces a number of looming...
Ariel Cohen, CGPolicy
Shortly after President Donald Trump ordered a U.S. retreat from Syria and Afghanistan in October 2019, events in the region drew U.S. forces right back in. The administration’s decision to target Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, triggered tit-for-tat retaliation between Washington and Tehran at the opening of 2020, bringing bilateral tensions to their highest levels since the 1979 hostage crisis. Despite these actions in the region... Читать дальше...
John Keiger, Spectator
The EU has never been a serious global foreign policy player. Without a European army or a meaningful defence pact, the pretence of a Common Foreign and Security Policy is mere sound and fury signifying nothing. Back in 1991, the Gulf War served as a stocktake of the international weakness of the European communities with the Belgian foreign minister lamenting Europe’s position as ‘an economic giant, a political pygmy and...
M.K. Bhadrakumar, Asia Times
The rise of China provided a useful alibi for Shinzo Abe to find ways to bolster his nation’s forces with minimal domestic blowback
Roger Boyes, Times of London
The F-35 jet is a political and military tool enabling America to forge alliances and threaten foes.
S. Speer, N. Post
Former Vice-President Joe Biden was better but that’s only on a forgiving curve
Marco Janssen, The Hindu
This year is defined by a pandemic, record-breaking forest fires, floods and droughts in various places, and the rapid melting of Arctic ice. The disruption of our environment is one of the main factors causing these events. To cope with these events, we need to increase our efforts in managing our interactions with the environment on a global scale.
Chris Patten, Project Syndicate
Four examples of the Chinese leadership’s duplicity and mendacity demonstrate that the last thing the world should do is trust the Communist Party of China. If governments recognize this and act together, the sooner the Beijing bullies will have to behave better.
