The first public confirmation of interaction with HTS came at the conclusion of Blinken’s diplomatic tour of the region sparked by the sudden downfall of Assad’s decades-long rule. He signed off on a set of guiding principles for Syria’s transition with officials from eight Arab nations, Turkey, the European Union and the United Nations. Under … Read more
Juhansone, a former Latvian ambassador, who is currently the top EU official at the Commission, is a close ally of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and her chief of staff Bjoern Seibert. Should Juhansone clinch the top job at the EEAS it could be seen as a power grab by von der Leyen, who … Read more
If no party from the left agrees to work with the “civil war parties,” it would be due in part to the terrible outcomes that have befallen any small party to have done so in the past. Annihilation on the left Since Fianna Fáil’s half-century of political dominance ended in the 1980s and multi-party coalitions … Read more
U.S. President Joe Biden, meanwhile, led Western powers in giving Kyiv permission to fire long-range missiles at targets inside Russia. Kyiv and Moscow each have other reasons to want a quick end of the war. “They’re both in a race against time, not just because of Trump, but also because they both have systemic, endemic … Read more
The shift by the White House comes as Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk region brace for an assault by some 50,000 troops — including 10,000 North Korean soldiers — and as President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to strike a peace agreement immediately upon taking office, stoking fears in Kyiv he could press Ukraine to make … Read more
Israel’s new Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar mentioned the Kurdish people in his first speech upon taking office. “The Kurdish people are a great nation, one of the largest nations without political independence,” Sa’ar said at a ceremony marking the handover of the ministry from outgoing Foreign Minister Israel Katz to Sa’ar. Israel has enjoyed … Read more
Finally, following years of negotiations, the Labour administration announced on Oct. 3 that — after more than half a century — it would give up sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, albeit with carve-outs to protect the U.K./U.S. airbase on Diego Garcia. Looking back, Sands sees Britain’s EU departure as a major contributor. “Brexit … Read more
The closure will affect 32 consular staff members, according to an official from the Foreign Office in Berlin, who said Germany last took such “drastic, but appropriate” measures after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The Iranian embassy in Berlin, however, will remain open, as will the German embassy in Tehran. According to the … Read more
However, Szijjártó continued to promote the policy in his keynote speech on Thursday, addressing the conference audience in Russian. In his 14-minute speech, Szijjártó did not mention Ukraine once, nor did he speak specifically about the war — saying only that “Europe and Hungary are facing one of the most serious conflicts since World War … Read more
Zelenskyy criticized Guterres in an evening speech on Thursday that marked United Nations Day, in which he said it is “crucial” the world remembers the goals and principles of the U.N. Charter. “Even if some officials prefer the allure of Kazan over the substance of the U.N. Charter, our world is structured so that the … Read more
