February, 2022

• 24 February

  Sudan moves ahead with Israel ties

  

  Tel Aviv continues to exchange visits with the contested authorities in Khartoum and deepen their security cooperation, in line with the coup generals’ allies in the Gulf and Egypt. Dressed in traditional attire — a long, loose-fitting white robe and matching headdress — the head of Sudan’s contested Sovereign Council …

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• 24 February

  Erdogan not giving up on gas from Iraqi Kurdistan

  

  Erdogan appears bent on advancing energy deals with Iraqi Kurdistan, even as a gas project remains bogged down by legal, technical and financial snags. The Iraqi Supreme Court’s Feb. 15 ruling that proclaimed Iraqi Kurdistan’s oil and gas law unconstitutional has cast a shadow on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s …

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• 24 February

  Ukraine crisis exposes Turkey’s limits

  

  The Ukraine crisis has exposed Ankara’s limits on foreign policy, yet Turkey’s President Erdogan can still score points from rapprochement with the UAE and Israel. As Western capitals scramble to stop further Russian advancement into Ukraine — after the Kremlin’s decision to recognize the sovereignty of two breakaway territories in …

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• 24 February

  Will Either Macron or Erdogan Back Down in the Eastern Mediterranean?

  

  French President Emmanuel Macron has clearly decided to up the ante in a standoff with Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean, where France is backing Greece and Cyprus in their dispute with Ankara over natural gas reserves and maritime boundaries. First, Macron ordered a temporary reinforcement of French aerial and naval …

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• 24 February

  Greece Is Reshaping the Eastern Mediterranean Region

  

  Developments in the Eastern Mediterranean region are unfolding at a breakneck pace. Blink an eye and one is bound to miss a new multilateral initiative, an impressive military exercise or even the creation of an international organization. Greece is very much in the middle of this diplomatic and military frenzy, …

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• 24 February

  How Europe Maneuvered Itself Into an Energy Crisis

  

  Four years ago, at a Track II dialogue between German and American diplomats and analysts, a German colleague of mine explained his firm belief that his country—and, by extension, Europe as a whole—could use geoeconomic tools to regulate and blunt Russia’s geopolitical ambitions. Europe’s need for natural gas, he said, …

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• 24 February

  Belarus joins Putin’s new Russian empire

  

  If any doubts remained about Vladimir Putin’s intentions to restore at least part of the old Soviet empire, they should have been dispelled this week when Belarus announced that the estimated 30,000 Russian troops currently in the country would remain there indefinitely. The Russian forces are in Belarus ostensibly for …

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• 24 February

  China and Russia are proposing a new authoritarian playbook. MENA leaders are watching closely.

  When President Donald Trump lost the 2020 US presidential election to democratic candidate Joe Biden, many leaders in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) saw an ominous warning that democracy may again take center stage in US foreign policy, with autocrats trying to consolidate power in their hands.

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• 24 February

  What I heard in Munich: A lot of bold words, but little bold action

  

  With Europe seemingly on the brink of a war, transatlantic resolve emerged as the key feature of this year’s Munich Security Conference (MSC). During the last in-person MSC in 2020, French President Emmanuel Macron presented his vision of “European independence” and “strategic autonomy.” But those terms were rarely discussed this …

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• 24 February

  Russia invades Ukraine; explosions are heard in Kyiv and other cities

  

  As diplomats at the United Nations implored Russian President Vladimir Putin to pull back from the brink of an invasion into Ukraine, Putin announced in a nationally televised address that his country would conduct a military operation in eastern Ukraine. Explosions have been heard by NPR correspondents in the capital …

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