February, 2021

• 3 February

  Iran Tries to Expand in Daraa

  Iran is continuing to push into Daraa with the Fourth Division, claiming to be searching for Islamists, which is refuted by locals in the area reports Baladi News.

  Read More »

January, 2021

• 30 January

  What Must be Done for Russian Forces to Leave Transnistria?

  As Moldova and Russia spar again over Moscow’s military presence in the breakaway region of Transnistria, BIRN looks at what it would take to end this decades-long dispute. Relations between Moldova’s new elected pro-European president, Maia Sandu, and Russia started off on the wrong foot when Sandu immediately vowed to …

  Read More »
• 30 January

  FAKEBOOKS IN HUNGARY AND POLAND

  Local versions of Facebook have been launched in Poland and Hungary, though experience shows that technology ventures conceived with politically biased and nationalistic motives rarely succeed. Poland and Hungary have seen the launch recently of locally developed versions of Facebook, as criticism of the US social media giants grows amid …

  Read More »
• 30 January

  CZECH COMMUNISTS SHOW FEALTY TO CHINA

  The Czech Communist Party’s brazen siding with China worries parts of the political establishment and the security services, especially given it provides support to the minority government in return for influence on policy. Facing a panel of stern officials backed by red flags in a cavernous chamber, a pudgy grey-haired …

  Read More »
• 30 January

  US Push for Decentralisation May not Solve Bosnia’s Problems

  A Biden administration initiative to centralise power at state level in Bosnia – while decentralising it at local level – will not necessarily bring any more stability and inclusion to the country. With a change to the US administration in sight, discussions about expected changes in Washington’s policy towards the …

  Read More »
• 30 January

  Kosovo Must Take Three Crucial Steps During Biden’s Presidency

  Kosovo must make use of a new, more sympathetic, administration to leverage US support on core issues affecting its security, legitimacy and energy supply. With Joe Biden now inaugurated as US president, Kosovo has four years to leverage assured support. Biden has more foreign policy experience than any other recent …

  Read More »
• 30 January

  Vote ‘Secured’: How to Rig an Albanian Election and Get Away with It

  The prosecution file in a case of alleged electoral fraud in a remote Albanian region in 2016 lays bare an industrial-scale campaign of vote-buying and intimidation up and down the ranks of the country’s ruling Socialist Party. As yet, no one has faced justice.

  Read More »
• 30 January

  Turkey and Greece: Still More Peace Talks

  

  Ankara and Athens, starting in 2002, held 60 rounds of talks before their exploratory efforts came to a halt in 2016. After a five-year-long pause the rivals agreed to resume talks on January 25, starting the 61st round. “The idea that a strategic — so-called strategic — partner of ours …

  Read More »
• 30 January

  Germany: Meet Angela Merkel’s Second Successor

  “You get the impression that Armin Laschet still believes in a partnership with Putin’s Russia. He ignores the fact that there simultaneously is both a geopolitical and a value conflict with Moscow. This conflict requires a certain degree of severity, a policy of deterrence and also a policy of sanctions. …

  Read More »
• 30 January

  G7 Foreign Ministers Condemn Russia Over Navalny Detention, ‘Violent Suppression’ Of Protests

  Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) major industrial nations have condemned Russia for the “politically motivated” detention of Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny and the “violent suppression” of protesters demanding his release over the weekend.

  Read More »