Worldcrunch
Gotland is Sweden’s largest island, home to some 57,000 people and a popular tourist destination during the short Swedish summers for its many beaches and hiking trails. During the Cold War, the island also served as a key military base in Sweden’s defense against the Soviet threat, which loomed just 80 miles away to the […]
RUSSIA PROPOSES SYRIA CEASEFIRE Russia has proposed a ceasefire in Syria starting March 1, but U.S. officials responded that it should start immediately, AP reports. Washington officials belief that Moscow, which has been aiding Syrian government troops with airstrikes, is buying itself time to “crush moderate rebel groups,” AP reports. The proposal is expected to […]
UK TO VOTE ON SYRIA AIRSTRIKES Photo: Andrew Parsons/i-Images/ZUMA British Members of Parliament are set to vote on whether the United Kingdom will join the United States, France and Russia and several other countries in carrying out airstrikes in Syria and Iraq. The vote is expected late Wednesday after a long debate in the House […]
TURKEY SHOOTS DOWN RUSSIAN JET Two Turkish jets shot down a Russian warplane this morning near the Syrian border after the Turkish military repeated warnings about airspace violations. This is the first time the armed forces of a NATO member shot down a Russian or Soviet aircraft since the 1950s, Reuters reports. The Turkish military […]
CHINA ENDS ONE-CHILD POLICY After months of speculation, China today officially ended its notorious 35-year-long one-child policy, allowing couples in the country to have two children, Xinhua state news agency reports. China’s so-called “family planning policy” was implemented in September 1980 in an effort to alleviate social, economic and environmental problems. But as The Guardian […]
NATO READY TO TO “DEFEND” TURKEY NATO is prepared to send troops to Turkey to defend its ally against any threats along its southern border, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said during a press conference before a meeting with defense ministers in Brussels today, Reuters reports. His comments come after Russian jets operating in Syria violated […]
NATO WARNS RUSSIA ON INCURSIONS IN TURKISH AIRSPACE Nato has strongly condemned Russian violations of Turkey’s airspace, after Ankara reported two incursions in two days. The rising tensions between Moscow and the West come as Russia has launched air raids in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. ISRAEL RAZES HOMES OF PALESTINIAN MILITANTS Israel’s government […]
CHINA DEVALUES YUAN AGAIN China’s central bank stunned global markets by cutting the yuan’s value against the dollar for a second day in a row, this time by 1.6% after deciding on a 1.9% devaluation Tuesday. It’s yet more evidence that the country’s economy may be in a worse state than the government claims. As […]
-OpEd- PARIS — The late 1990s anti-globalization movement that protested against summits like the World Trade Organization in Seattle and G8 in Genoa used the slogan: “Another world is possible.” Is this “other world” now being constructed before our eyes by the BRICS, as the emerging countries of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa […]
Photo: Hamza Turkia/Xinhua/ZUMA NATO DISCUSSES TURKEY BORDER CRISIS In an emergency meeting in Brussels today, NATO is holding talks to discuss Turkey’s campaign against both ISIS and Kurdish forces across its border in Syria.Reuters reports that both NATO and Turkey are downplaying the idea of a call for military help from the alliance. “Turkey requested […]
Authorities in Macedonia have accused ethnic Albanians from Kosovo of planning violent unrest in the country after a Saturday police raid against an armed group early left 14 militants and eight police officers dead, the BBC reports. Officials said that the group had been “neutralized” and a massive weapons cache seized. Because of the region’s […]
NEPAL DEATHS EXCEED 6,000 The death toll in and around Nepal, where a devastating earthquake struck Saturday, now exceeds 6,200 people, Reuters reports. More than 14,000 people were also injured, and at least 600,000 homes were destroyed in the disaster. SNAPSHOT Photo: Sajjad/Xinhua/ZUMA A laborer works at an iron factory on International Workers’ Day in […]
YEMEN AIRSTRIKES MOVE INTO DAY FIVEWarplanes from the Saudi Arabia-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen destroyed arms depots overnight in day five of its offensive, Saudi website Al Arabiya reports. This comes after the weekend’s Arab summit in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh, where Sunni nations agreed to form what The Washington Times describes as a […]
-OpEd- TURIN — Geography is inexorable: Italy can never be isolated from Libya, which is just 300 miles from the coast of Sicily. Still, the Italian public tends to be isolated from the rest of the world. The government knows both these truths. Unlike any other European or Western country, Italy kept its Libyan embassy […]
After the Soviet collapse, Russia and Ukraine split what was left of the Red Army. Now an open war between the two is becoming increasingly likely in a bitter twist of history.
New Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is betting on Beijing to cement peace and help rebuild the economy. But China will play its cards carefully, especially its historic alliance with Pakistan.
The increasingly authoritative stances of Presidents Vladimir Putin and Recep Erdogan are only isolating them inside their own countries and on the global stage.
-OpEd- BERLIN — As German military theorist Carl von Clausewitz once wrote, the aggressor is always peace-loving. He wants to take over our land, our people, our resources without firing a single shot. By this same logic, the defender is always the aggressor. This truth has seldom been better illustrated than by events in eastern […]
Moscow is clearly testing the limits of the West, which must now put a stop to Putin’s muscle-flexing with some muscle of its own. How about a German-Polish army brigade?
The Polish Solidarity leader and Nobel Peace Prize Winner offers a combative vision for how Europe can stand up to Moscow. He speaks from experience.
Turkey’s fraught relationship with Europe and the U.S. should be bolstered by its impressive response to the refugee crisis in neighboring Syria. But now will the West step up?
Nobody wants to die for Donetsk, but much more is at stake for the West than just Ukraine’s borders. In the face of Vladimir Putin’s ambitions, it’s time to ask the hard questions.
The Russian President is again one step ahead of the U.S. and Europe, and many have begun to wonder if sanctions are even worth it. And then there is the question: where to after Ukraine?
-Analysis- PARIS — What can Europe do after Kiev’s desperate call for help in dealing with the invasion of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine, where separatists are gaining control? Let’s leave aside for the moment the hypothesis of military aid. European defense doesn’t exist. What’s more, we run the risk of escalation — an imbalance […]
Thanks to a hidden supply of weapons seized from a Russian arms trafficker 20 years ago, Italy may be able to quickly help Kurdish fighters as they battle against the ISIS jihadist terrorists.
BRUSSELS — The Ukraine crisis and Russia’s aggressive behavior have hit NATO right between the eyes. Utterly caught off guard, the defense alliance has begun asking itself how it must react, both in the short-term actions, as well as bigger questions about NATO’s role for the future. The pressure to be decisive has a firm […]
Should a state be driven by law, or by force? Russia’s neighbors, friends and enemies must reflect on what’s really at play in the showdown over Ukraine.
The two Nordic countries, one of which shares a long border with Russia, have so far been carefully neutral as Moscow flexes its muscles. Could NATO membership be the answer?
It will take the international community years to recover from the trust Russia violated over its illegal interference in Ukraine. But Putin and his close collaborators will never be punished.
MOSCOW — The U.S. government seems to believe that Russia has already established “complete operational control of the Crimean Peninsula.” American intelligence sources have cited no fewer than 6,000 Russian soldiers who were used to achieve this goal. (In a press conference Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin denied his country’s troops were currently occupying Crimea, […]
Monday, December 29, 2014 AIRASIA PLANE LIKELY AT “BOTTOM OF THE SEA”The head of Indonesia’s search-and-rescue agency has said that AirAsia flight QZ8501, which disappeared yesterday with 162 people on board, is likely “at the bottom of the sea,” CNN reports. Search operations have so far failed to locate the aircraft, which was flying from […]
Thursday, October 30, 2014 SWEDEN RECOGNIZES PALESTINE Sweden today became the first EU member in Western Europe to officially recognize Palestine, a month after the country’s prime minister announced intentions for the controversial move during his inaugural address. “It is an important step that confirms the Palestinians’ right to self-determination,” Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom […]
POSSIBLE UKRAINE CEASEFIREAll eyes are on Minsk where Ukrainian, Russian and OSCE envoys have begun another round of talks that could lead to an imminent ceasefire in eastern Ukraine after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s said at the NATO summit yesterday that he would agree to a truce. Rebel leaders also said they would stop the […]
Syria is more reminiscent of the Balkan wars in the 1990s than Iraq or Afghanistan. It’s imperative for the West to act to force Assad’s hand, not just to slap his wrist.
BBC (UK), AFP Worldcrunch LOGAR– At least 8 Afghan workers were kidnapped and shot dead on their way to jobs at a U.S. military base in Logar province, south of Kabul. No group has taken responsibility for the attack, however, local officials blame the Taliban terrorist group, BBC reports. The workers, aged from 15 to […]
With the United States embroiled over the National Security Agency’s alleged spying on American and foreign citizens, there are other battles taking shape over the Internet.
With major geopolitical changes and severe economic restraints, some wonder if the military alliance is destined for the dustbin of history.
BERLIN – Europeans are in a virtual state of paralysis about the future, frozen by a fear that – were they to turn away from Brussels – the result would be a rise of reactionary nationalism. Not surprisingly, these new chauvinisms are perfectly suited for some political agendas – on all sides of the ideological […]
AL JAZEERA (Qatar), BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch KABUL – At least 10 young girls have been killed and two others injured in a landmine explosion in eastern Afghanistan, officials say. The explosion occurred Monday morning in the Charparhar district, in the eastern province of Nangarhar, reports Al Jazeera. The girls were collecting firewood outside the […]