Etiket arşivi: Russia

The Second-best Option: “No War, No Peace”

July 20, 2026

The world remains occupied with the wars in the Middle East and in Ukraine, and their global repercussions.

With the sharp military escalation between Iran and the US and President Trump’s threats and conflicting remarks, it was another chaotic week in the Middle East. Before the war, tankers going through the Strait of Hormuz carried around a fifth of the world’s oil consumption. Today, countries are looking at alternative routes and considering building new pipelines. On top of Iran’s nuclear program, passage through the Strait has become a major issue.

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The Trump Summit

July 9, 2026

NATO’s Ankara Summit was probably the most extravagant in the Alliance’s history. A day before the Summit, in a social media message, the Turkish Presidency’s Head of Communications, Duran, said, “At the invitation of our President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President Donald Trump of the United States of America will pay an official visit to our country on 7 July 2026.”

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Europe in a Bind

March 16, 2026

European leaders met in Berlin on August 12, 2025, two days before the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska. They issued a statement affirming that the people of Ukraine must have the freedom to decide their future and that the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine. Hungary chose not to associate itself with the statement.

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The Munich Security Conference

February 18, 2026

The 62nd  Munich Security Conference took place from February 13 to 15, 2026. With the war in Ukraine and strains in transatlantic relations, the conference attracted global attention. Starting with Chancellor Merz, as the leader of the host country, many other European leaders, Secretary of State Rubio, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi addressed the meeting. All Western participants who delivered remarks agreed that the so-called “international rules-based order” has ceased to exist. They also agreed that if there had been a unipolar moment following the collapse of the USSR, with the rise of China, that too was over.

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Another Regime Change Project

January 5, 2026

Saturday’s attack on Venezuela, the abduction of President Maduro, and his being brought, handcuffed, to New York was a shock to the world. This was a brazen violation of international law. Moreover, President Trump’s press conference about  Operation Absolute Resolve and the future must have been a second, and even a greater shock.

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UN Security Council Adopts Resolution 2803 (2025)

November 19, 2026

In my last post, hours before the UN Security Council began its deliberations on the draft US resolution on November 17, I said that the authority to be given to the Board of Peace (Bopp), the lack of detail about the International Stabilization Force (ISF), and the issue of UN Security Council monitoring might require further negotiations; that whether Russia will persist or accommodate Mr. Trump remained uncertain; and that it was unlikely that Beijing and Moscow would readily give him carte blanche in Gaza.

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President Trump’s Fifty-Day “Ultimatum”

July 21, 2025

After six months in office in his second term, the world has become accustomed to President Trump’s surprising changes of direction. Thus, his recent turnabout on the war in Ukraine and his relationship with President Putin, following their call on July 3, has not come as a stunner.

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Russia’s Likely Response to the Ukrainian Drone Attack

June 6, 2025

In recent years, as military technologies have advanced, drones have become a crucial tool in modern warfare. Ukraine’s recent drone attacks against Russian strategic targets illustrate this shift. Ukraine has increasingly used drone warfare to target critical infrastructure and military assets in Russia. These attacks are designed to weaken Russia’s ability to sustain its military operations and to disrupt logistical supply chains.

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The Year 2024 in Review

December 16, 2024

People aspire to democracy.  Regardless of their respect for fundamental rights and freedoms, and the rule of law, all regimes claim to be democratic in some form because it remains the ultimate source of legitimacy to govern. Sadly, the year 2024 was not an inspiring year for democracy.

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