Aylık arşivler: Şubat 2024

The Forbidden Word “Ceasefire”

February 26, 2024

On February 17, Chancellor Scholz addressed the Munich Security Conference. Mentioning the tragic death of Alexei Navalny, he declared that to all intents and purposes, President Putin has brought the economy, education, science, and culture in Russia under his control, and anyone who actively works for freedom and democracy has to fear for their life. He said:

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The War in Ukraine Two Years On

February 19, 2024

On February 16, 2023, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died at a penal colony above the Arctic Circle, marking a dark day for Russia. A Le Monde article was titled “Navalny’s death buries the last hope for a free Russia”. In 2020, Navalny was poisoned in Siberia by what German laboratories later confirmed to be the nerve agent Novichok. His return to Moscow on January 17,  2021, knowing that he would immediately be detained, was a remarkable display of courage and patriotism. Someday, in Moscow, Russians will pay him their respects before his statue.

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The Middle East, World’s Region of Conflict

February 12, 2024

US State Department’s Office of the Historian says that  Secretary of State Warren Christopher “eschewed confrontation in favor of negotiation with friend and foe alike”. Indeed, during his tenure as Secretary of State, from January 1993 to January 1997, he paid 200 visits to different countries including those in which he accompanied President Clinton. A hundred of those visits were to the Middle East: 5 to Saudi Arabia, 8 to Jordan, 8 to the Palestinian National Authority, 15 to Egypt, 29 to Syria, and 34 to Israel.

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Iraq and Syria Refuse Being Made Punching Bags

February 5, 2024

On January 3, twin blasts near the burial site of Qasem Soleimani, the former head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, killed a hundred people and injured scores in the southern Iranian city of Kerman adding to concerns about a widening regional conflict. President Raisi’s political deputy, Mohammad Jamshidi, blamed Israel and the US for the attack. Later, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei vowed a “harsh response” to the attack but did not mention either Israel or the US.

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