The tapestry of ancient Silk Routes
 
The ancient maritime and overland Silk Routes have been revived. Its modern incarnation, driven by China’s Belt and Road Initiative (B&R), stands on the verge of connecting the Eurasian landmass, East Africa and Western Europe into a single trading matrix.
 
Many Asian communities were…

 Ukraine has another crisis facing it and it is one which is not, so far being mentioned, as far as I can determine in any of the various (and many) media outlets and it is a crisis, which, I suggest, is no less serious than the one's facing it right now.   The only difference being that this is a crisis just waiting in the wings…

By Mathew Maavak
(Also read Part I). This article appeared as an OpEd in the Eurasia Review on Oct 21, 2015
Recently, a US professor had mailed me enquiring about the possible misuse of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) to monitor people who did not subscribe to the mainstream political narrative. She was concerned about the…

On October 14, the White House dismissed a proposal by President Putin to send Prime Minister Medvedev to the United States to discuss military cooperation in Syria. White House spokesman Josh Earnest called the proposal a sign of "desperation." Said Earnest: "We're not interested in doing that, as long as Russia is not willing…

Political parties are alleged to provide their electorates with choice. Cynics might object that, while elections give an electorate the feeling that they have choice, this is only an illusion. Soviet propagandists used to like to point out that the choice is only between Rockefeller millionaires and Kennedy millionaires, that is, among factions of…

“Shields up – Red Alert,” was the going-into-battle command of the star ship’s Enterprise’s captains: made immortally famous by the likes of Captain James. T. Kirk, of the original Star Trek series, and Captain Jean Luke Pickard, of Star Trek, the Next Generation. Today, we are now witnessing a similar battle cry…

Jeb, Donald Trump is unfortunately, correct. Your brother did not "keep us safe." Like your friend and former Florida campaign treasurer, Felicano Foyo, we deeply admire you. We also admire your brother’s response to 9/11 and respect your loyalty to him. However, our first loyalty as Americans, is to our republic. You are killing your…

In the ten months since Dilma Rousseff was inaugurated for her second term as president Brazil has had three defense ministers.
 
Not what you would expect from the nation that U.S. president Barack Obama has annointed as a "major world power."
 
Budget cuts at key ministries mandated by Dilma's financial team have created…

Picture by Andrey Kortunov, Director General, Russian International Affairs Council.   Do airstrikes turn into the universal tool of peace building? Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria... to be continued?   Image credit: www.wallpapersdesign.net   Want to be published? Send your submissions to:…

Malala the viral iconI was one amongst those who were outraged by the shooting of Malala Yousofzai on Oct 9, 2012.  However, my opinions regarding her putative education jihad, her alleged single-handed campaigns against the Taliban, and even the alleged shooting incidence itself rapidly changed when the subsequent lionization process reeked of a…

 
 
A few days ago the Centre of Strategic and International Studies published a detailed analysis on the results of the economic sanctions imposed on Russia. Its author, Simon De Galbert, gave also some policy recommendations in case some future scenarios will materialize. Here I report the main points.
 
 
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The current situation in Ukraine is mostly considered as a simply conflict between pro-Russian insurgency and the Ukrainian government. But the truth has become far more complex and it is now a crucial security issue for EU and Russian governance.
 
The employment of paramilitary volunteer battalions by Poroshenko’s government to fight…