... of Robert Bosch Stiftung (Germany), a closed seminar was held for members of the German Bundestag and other parliamentarians from the European Union. The seminar focused on EU political strategy regarding key external partners — Russia, China, and Turkey — in the context of recent elections to the European Parliament and leadership changes in the European External Action Service.
Andrey Kortunov, RIAC Director General, addressed the participants of the seminar.
... maneuvering have not only confounded early critics but also outdone even President Vladimir Putin’s own expectations.
Russia’s achievements in the Middle East go way beyond the success in Syria proper. Moscow benefits from flexible semi-alliances with Turkey and Iran, oil price arrangements with Saudi Arabia and newly revived military ties with Egypt. It is again a player of some consequence in Libya, a power to which many Lebanese look to help them hold their country together, and a would-be security ...
... discontent over U.S. position is on its rise.
If one looks at U.S. bilateral relations with other countries, the overall picture seems the same. The United States is very inconsistent in its policies towards North Korea, the Middle East (predominantly Syria, Turkey and Iran), China, Venezuela, and Ukraine. And this inconsistency doesn’t seem to be a part of a grand strategy defined within the laws of “realpolitik”, where actions change and fluctuate in accordance with the situation at hand, but more ...
... that this can be the beginning of some kind of solution on the basis of mutual agreement and understanding. This Constitutional process, although chaired by the UN, is vital for the key players in the conflict, particularly Assad’s Syria, Russia and Turkey, who all retain maximum influence in the process. EU states are, to an extent, bystanders. However Europe does retain potential influence over the outcome and will be following the process very closely.
There are multiple reasons as to why the ...
... through which we look at “agents,” especially an unconventional agent like Russia
The October events in Syria were an interesting indicator of the specific character of current international relations. Two NATO allies — the United States and Turkey — took opposite stands on the Kurdish issue. Washington had to introduce economic sanctions against Ankara, while Turkey conducted a military operation without so much as a backward glance at its ally. The European NATO members remained passive....
... vegetables, fruits and dried fruit), as well as on construction materials, kitchenware, carpets and certain products made of non-ferrous
metals
.
Armenia stands to benefit most from trade with Iran, as the country is under the economic blockade of Turkey and Azerbaijan and has no common borders with EAEU member states.
The Armenian leadership considered building a third high-voltage power line between Iran and Armenia, as well as the North–South highway, the Meghri hydroelectric power station,...
... can compete with Chinese mega-corporations. Whereas I think that in the UK they have always said that we need to have open markets and not favor the creation of European champions, let the market decide, who is the champion and who isn’t.
Recently, Turkey launched military operations in northern Syria. In your opinion, how does the EU see Turkey’s actions in Syria?
I think this will raise a lot of questions for the EU. First of all, Turkey is talking about returning a lot of refugees to some ...
... government bodies, public organizations, academic institutions and National Societies of the Red Cross and Red Crescent from a wide range of regions: Russia, Switzerland, China, the Republic of Korea, North Korea, Sri-Lanka, Nepal, USA, Syria, Libya, Turkey, Yemen, Great Britain, Sweden, Jordan, Palestine, Colombia, etc.
Ksenia Kuzmina, RIAC Program Manager, held a number of meetings with representatives of the ICRC, international experts, and humanitarian law experts on the sidelines of the event....
“Sanction paradox”: restrictions against allies are more effective than restrictions against rivals. So far, this paradox is working with respect to Turkey
The US withdrawal of military support for the Syrian Kurds and the subsequent operation of the Turkish army have exacerbated relations between Ankara and Washington. As one of the deterrence measures, the US authorities imposed sanctions against ...
... policies within the region to build resilience. In 2025 there will be less precipitation and climate change will aggravate water scarcity in almost all countries of the region. Although to date some countries have seen an increase in water supplies (mainly Turkey owing to better rainfalls, but also Sudan and Egypt as they rely on the upstream countries of the Nile Basin). However, increased temperatures and growing pollution of water resources have neutralized the potential benefit for agricultural production....
