Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s tour portrayed Washington’s official strategy as more benevolent than it actually is
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin embarked on a tour of Africa this week, marking the first such visit by a Pentagon chief since 2020, when Mark Esper visited Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. In contrast to that occasion, when no attention was paid to Sub-Saharan Africa, Austin’s trip was intended to reaffirm the Biden administration’s posture that the US is
“all in for Africa...
The growing US-Japanese-South Korean military cooperation inevitably leads to stronger China-Russia-North Korea ties
The Russian-North Korean negotiations this month have provoked a lot of hype, particularly in the West. It is assumed by the West that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's trip might indicate a profound change in Moscow's overall approach to the security problems on the Korean Peninsula. Allegedly, a new so-called "Moscow-Beijing-Pyongyang axis" that harbors unquestionable...
Policy Brief #47 / 2023
Policy Brief #47 / 2023
The Middle East has been clearly showing signs that is it changing. It would not be an overstatement to say that a lot of what is happening now would have been unthinkable just a couple of years ago.
The greatest of these changes is the China-mediated rapprochement between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Given that these countries are regional “centers of power”, their new and improved relations may help reduce regional...
Like Russia, India is likely to resist the evolution of the international system towards a rigid U.S.-China bipolarity since such an evolution would inevitably deprive New Delhi of the freedom of manoeuvring that it enjoys now
Recently there have been many speculations about the likely future of India-US relations and their impact on the Indian posture within the emerging new world order. Indeed, the India-U.S. interaction represents one of the most important bilateral relationships in the modern...
When al-Sisi became the country’s new president in 2014, Russia and Egypt entered a new stage in their bilateral relations
The anniversary of the inauguration of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on June 30, 2013 was celebrated in the wake of an alarming situation. For several days, Morsi’s opponents shook Egypt with demonstrations against the President and his Freedom and Justice Party, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood*.
Political Risks for Russian-Egyptian Cooperation in North Africa...
The EU will experience the full impact of its misguided foreign policy
Article Review
In an
article
for the
Meer Magazine
, Michael von der Schulenburg explores the opportunities the EU has missed in the context of the ongoing conflict in and around Ukraine, while noting that politicians, think tanks and media across Europe are once more embracing the belief that weapons are the only means of ensuring security. This dangerous belief, he argues, has resulted in the sacrifice of human lives in...
Russia’s preservation of its statehood and sovereignty again becomes the main stake of the conflict. The statehood of Ukraine is another stake
In Russia, the point of view that the goal of the United States and the “collective West” headed by Washington is a final solution to the “Russian question” is becoming more and more widespread. Such a goal is seen as defeating Russia, levelling its military potential, restructuring its statehood, rewiring its identity, and possibly liquidating it as a single...
Escaping the precession of simulacra which we find ourselves in again and again will require sub-regional and regional structural reorganization
Given that some conflicts in West Asia are still smoldering, the potential for them to be rekindled with renewed vigor remains. One of the most effective mechanisms to stabilize the situation in the region would be to create a comprehensive regional collective security framework. A promising format is the Conference on Security and Development. Opportunities...
To be instrumental the SCO has to resist the temptation to find a narrowly defined focus for its future activities. The breadth of its mandate is yet another comparative advantage to be preserved and expanded
When I came to New Delhi in early February, I could observe a lot of hype there around the forthcoming G20 Summit. Though the summit is scheduled to take place only in September, it became the talk of the town right after India succeeded Indonesia as the G20 chair in late 2022. Indian journalists...
A response to Sergei Karaganov’s “A Difficult but Necessary Decision”
Sergei Karaganov’s article on the need to make a difficult choice in favor of a preemptive nuclear strike on some NATO nation in Eastern Europe has expectedly drawn a wide response. Some took it as a course of action, others viewed it as the trolling of internal and external audiences. Still others considered it a subtle signal to the West, devised in advance in the political kitchen and voiced by an eminent scholar.
The official...
