The manner in which Brussels has meted out €1 billion to Lebanon smacks of opportunism and a reward for flouting reforms, writes Benjamin Fève. Bad behaviour certainly has its rewards. That is, at least, if you are among Lebanon’s political elite, who secured €1 billion in financial aid from the …

In-depth: The Rapid Support Forces have surrounded and besieged the Sudanese army’s last Darfur holdout in El Fasher – a city gripped by famine and fear. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have encircled and besieged El Fasher in North Darfur in recent weeks, but fears of an all-out assault on …

A Bosnian Serb former martial arts fighter has been posting videos and pictures online, documenting his new life as a volunteer soldier with a Russian unit fighting in Ukraine. BIRN was able to track his posts, following his journey to the frontline.Afew weeks after returning home to Modrica in Bosnia’s …

The Hungarian government pledged political support to Milorad Dodik as it hosted the Bosnian Serb leader in Budapest, saying it would vote against the UN resolution on Srebrenica. But there was no new Hungarian aid announced. The president of the Serb entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milorad Dodik, was in …

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah this week struck a military post in northern Israel using a drone that fired two missiles. The attack wounded three soldiers, one of them seriously, according to the Israeli military. Hezbollah has regularly fired missiles across the border with Israel over the past seven months, …

Keep your “friends” close. On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met in Beijing to celebrate a “new era” of cooperation in an increasingly “multipolar world.” Putin’s visit comes as Russian forces are ravaging Kharkiv, and just after the Russian president reshuffled his military leadership ahead …

The Israel Defense Force’s move last week into the southern Gaza city of Rafah has exploded in Egypt like a 2,000-pound bomb. Cairo has long been playing a double game, holding Hamas terrorists near while simultaneously trying to appear helpful to the United States and Israel. Israel taking control of …

As part of the resumption of events at the NATO-Istanbul Cooperation Initiative Regional Centre in Kuwait (NIRC), a “NATO talk” was held on Monday (13 May 2024) to address the future of NATO relations in the region. “Twenty years of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative: What is the way forward for …

The arrangement of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent visit to three European countries, namely France, Serbia, and Hungary appears to be meticulously planned. Within the G7 group, France is often seen as a member who goes its own way. On the other hand, in the European Union, Hungary has been …

In Soviet times, Russians joked that the optimists were learning English, the pessimists Chinese, and the realists Kalashnikov. Now, in Putin’s Russia, many say that those who want to move abroad are learning English or German, while those who are true Russian patriots and want to remain where they live …