Eurasia

Turkish inflation hits highest level under Erdogan’s rule

Turkey’s consumer inflation is bound to increase further in the coming months after reaching 36% in 2021, with even bigger numbers recorded in the producer sector. Turkey’s consumer inflation surged by a staggering 13.6 percent in December, bringing the 2021 annual rate to 36 percent — the highest under the …

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China’s Soft-Power Advantage in Africa

Beijing Isn’t Just Building Roads—It’s Making Friends When U.S. policymakers consider China’s influence in Africa, they often think of big-ticket infrastructure development programs such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Over the past two decades, Beijing has spent billions building dams, highways, railways, and ports in countries from Egypt …

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Russia Is Playing With Fire in the Balkans

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the Yugoslav wars, Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II. Although the Balkan states moved toward democratic governance and integration with NATO and the European Union in the immediate aftermath of the wars, consistent neglect on the part of the …

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10 Conflicts to Watch in 2022

Troubling undercurrents in 2021 – from the U.S. to Afghanistan, Ethiopia or the climate emergency – didn’t send battle deaths soaring or set the world ablaze. But as our look ahead to 2022 shows, many bad situations round the world could easily get worse. ” Foreign involvement in conflicts creates …

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Ukraine: Will Zelenskiy’s Presidency Last the Full Term?

Ukraine’s President Volodimir Zelenskiy has recently ‘crossed the equator’ of his five-year presidential term. In April 2019, in the second run-off, a complete political novice Zelenskiy defeated a seasoned politician, an incumbent President Petro Poroshenko, with an overwhelming 73 per cent of votes in his favour. The results reflected a …

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Drone Flight Trials In Poland Bring EU-Wide Urban Air Mobility A Step Closer

An initial series of test flights with drones has been launched in Poland as part of the EU-funded Uspace4UAM project. The first of these trials is now underway in Rzeszów, a city of close to 200 000 people. The test flights are being carried out by three Uspace4UAM consortium members: …

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The Tactical Defense Becomes Dominant Again – Analysis

It has become widely accepted that the convergence of technological advances is leading to a revolution in military affairs or perhaps even a military revolution.1 One of the unanswered questions concerning this shift is whether it will lead to continued dominance by the offense or a period of defensive dominance. …

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American Traitors: Academics Working for China

China’s regime has bought America’s academic community and turned it against America. “This case is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what needs to be done by the U.S. government to penetrate and prosecute China’s co-option of America’s academia.” — Kerry Gershaneck, the author of Political Warfare: …

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US-China Relations: ‘Situational Engagement’ – OpEd

This July, as the COVID-19 pandemic pressed on for a second year, Xi Jinping had a clear message to deliver to the world in his speech honoring the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party’s founding. “We will never allow any foreign force to bully, oppress, or subjugate us,” China’s …

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Kremlin Says ‘Pleased’ With Biden-Putin Talks, But Warns Against ‘Colossal’ Mistake

Moscow is pleased with the results of the new phone talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden, Putin’s aide has said. Putin has, however, warned the US against escalating Russia sanctions policy. In a statement released after the phone talks between the Russian leader and his …

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