Etiket arşivi: Ukraine war

2024: Another Challenging Year for the West

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January 2, 2024

On May 7, 2021, China initiated a virtual discussion at the UN Security Council on the future of the Organization and the international order. 

In remarks to the Security Council, Secretary Blinken, after thanking China for the initiative, underlined respect for international commitments, particularly the legally binding ones such as the UN Charter, treaties and conventions, UN Security Council resolutions, international humanitarian law, and the rules and standards agreed to under the auspices of the World Trade Organization and numerous international standard-setting organizations.

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Looking Back at the Year 2023

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December 18, 2023

For most of the past year, the war in Ukraine and Washington’s strategic competition with China dominated the global agenda. Then came the October 7 Hamas onslaught against Israel creating yet another maelstrom of uncertainty for the Middle East and beyond, leading me to say in an earlier post that at present Washington and its European allies are neither at war nor in peace. Today, Western countries do not have troops on the ground fighting in Ukraine, but they are deeply involved in the conflict providing Kyiv with huge sums of military assistance and military advice. They are not at war with Hamas, but they are politically involved. In brief, one may say with some exaggeration, that today Washington and its European allies are fighting a one-and-a-half war.

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The Limits of NATO’s Outreach

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April 24, 2023

On April 7, a batch of classified documents detailing American national security secrets from Ukraine to the Middle East to China surfaced on social media sites. It caused a shock in Washington. The leaked documents contained some Ukrainian war plans and also an alarming assessment of Ukraine’s air defense. But they also revealed that the Russian military is struggling in its war in Ukraine.

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The Global South Plus

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March 13, 2023

On February 23, 2023, the UN General Assembly through its Resolution A/ES-11/L.7, once again called for ending the war in Ukraine and demanded Russia’s immediate withdrawal from the country in line with the UN Charter. The voting was very similar to last year’s Resolution ES‑11/4. And the message of the majority was the same: “End the war.”

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Presidents Biden and Putin in Single Combat

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February 27, 2023

Last Monday in an article titled, “Biden’s Surreal and Secretive Journey into a War Zone”by Peter Baker and Michael D. Shear, the New York Times shared some details of President Biden’s visit to Ukraine with the reader.[i] It said the president played his part in the ruse which included a dinner at the Red Hen restaurant with the First Lady where they enjoyed the rigatoni before going back to the White House, hours before his departure for Europe. And that was just the beginning.

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Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: One Year On

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February 20, 2023

Two years ago, on February 19, 2021, at the 2021 Virtual Munich Security Conference, President Biden addressed the global community for the first time. He defined the partnership between Europe and the US as the cornerstone of all that the West hopes to accomplish in the 21st century, just as it did in the 20th century. He said, “I know — I know the past few years have strained and tested our transatlantic relationship, but the United States is determined — determined to reengage with Europe, to consult with you, to earn back our position of trusted leadership.”

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A Call for Peace in Syria

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January 7, 2023

In 2009, the communique issued at the end of the Damascus meeting of the “Turkish-Syrian High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council” referred to a “strategic partnership”, at the time a fashionable label for Türkiye’s external relationships. It mentioned common threats and challenges confronting the two countries. A year later, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, in remarks to the press with his Syrian counterpart in Latakia, underlined that the exemplary relationship between Syria and Türkiye was serving as a model for regional partnerships and that the two countries were aiming at total economic integration with neighbors.

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The Urgency of Avoiding Escalation in Ukraine

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January 31, 2023

On January 25, Chancellor Scholz told the Bundestag that Germany will send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. For some, the German government was bowing to growing “international pressure”. For Mr. Scholz and others, the German government was maintaining that its lockstep approach to weapons deliveries is the best way to support Ukraine, and the only way this can be done is by having the support of the German public opinion.

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Time to Energize Diplomacy

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January 16, 2023

Last week, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited France, Italy, Britain, Canada, and the US. In the background was the war in Ukraine, China’s growing military might, North Korea’s becoming a de facto nuclear power, and Japan’s “National Security Strategy”, made public on December 16, 2022.

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The US and Peace in the Middle East

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January 9, 2023

On January 3, 2023, US State Department Spokesman Ned Price, in response to a question regarding “the rapprochement between Turkey and the Syrian regime” said:

“Well, as I understand it, this was a trilateral engagement involving Syria, Turkey, and the Russian Federation as well. Our policy, which is all I can speak to, has not changed. We do not support countries upgrading their relations or expressing support to rehabilitate the brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad… We’ve made very clear to all of our allies and partners that now is not the time to normalize relations…”

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