July, 2023

• 13 July

  Is Russia Really Becoming China’s Vassal?

  

  China may have the opportunity to turn Russia into its vassal, but it has no compelling reason to do so. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia-China cooperation has grown in all directions. Moscow makes no bones about the fact that it is betting on China in …

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• 13 July

  Moscow Announces End-Run Around Increasingly Hostile Kazakhstan – Analysis

  Since Russian President Vladimir Putin came to power, Moscow has routinely sought to redirect trade through countries in the post-Soviet space to help its allies and weaken its opponents with the goal of preventing any of the former union republics from becoming regional competitors to Russia. Now, the Kremlin has …

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• 13 July

  Confrontation With West To Last Decades, Ukraine Conflict Permanent, Says Russia’s Former President Medvedev

  

  Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president, has warned that Moscow’s confrontation with the West will last decades and that its conflict with Ukraine could become permanent. A Reuters report said: Medvedev, now deputy head of the Security Council, said in an article for the government’s Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper, tensions between Russia …

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• 13 July

  Turkey extends flight ban on Iraqi Kurds’ Sulaimaniyah airport over alleged PKK support

  

  Turkey said its latest ban is in response to “the intensification of activities by the PKK terrorist organization in Sulaimaniyah.” Turkey on Monday extended a flight ban to Iraqi Kurdistan’s Sulaimaniyah International Airport for six months, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) officials confirmed, in a move that will further squeeze the …

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• 13 July

  Libya factions reassess Wagner’s operations in light of mutiny in Russia

  

  The Wagner issue could significantly impact the conflict in Libya and lead to further instability in the country. Recent developments in Russia, and Wagner’s open mutiny against the Kremlin have sparked considerable speculation regarding the potential impact on Wagner’s operations in Libya, a war zone it has heavily invested in …

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• 13 July

  Erdogan says Turkey won’t ‘back down’ on demands for Sweden’s NATO bid

  

  In an apparent jab at Sweden and the United States, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country wouldn’t cave to “veiled threats.” Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan amped up the rhetoric against Stockholm on Monday with merely days left before the critical meeting between Turkish, NATO and Swedish officials over …

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• 13 July

  America has Just Destroyed a Great Empire

  

  Herodotus (History, Book 1.53) tells the story of Croesus, king of Lydia c. 585-546 BC in what is now Western Turkey and the Ionian shore of the Mediterranean. Croesus conquered Ephesus, Miletus and neighboring Greek-speaking realms, obtaining tribute and booty that made him one of the richest rulers of his …

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• 13 July

  Destroying Eastern Ukraine to Save It

  

  I speak of peace, therefore, as the necessary rational end of rational men. ~PresidentJohn F. Kennedy, American University, June 10, 1963 Following an essay I published earlier this month and the letter the Eisenhower Media Network ran in The New York Times in May, I have heard forceful and passionate …

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• 13 July

  Prigozhin goes into exile but left behind a can of worms

  

  On Monday night, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the nation for the second time with the intention to bring the curtain down on the coup attempt by Wagner “founder” Yevgeny Prigozhin on June 23-24. It was quintessentially a self-congratulatory speech — well-deserved, perhaps. The speech had four principal elements. First, …

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• 13 July

  He Stopped Prigozhin’s Mutiny: What’s Next for Belarus’s Chief Negotiator Lukashenko?

  

  By solving a Russian domestic crisis, the Belarusian leader has effectively joined the ranks of Russian grandees vying for Putin’s favor by eliminating irritating problems that could distract the president from his high-stakes geopolitical machinations. The mutiny led by the Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin on the weekend has given …

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