“Last Wednesday, Estonia’s foreign intelligence agency claimed that Russia is counting on COVID-19 to weaken unity in the West. The Kremlin allegedly hopes to gain a more prominent role on the international stage through this weakening of Western global influence caused by COVID-19 disunity.”
Read More“Health officials point to vaccination as the single biggest requirement for a successful games. However, Japan approved its first vaccine just last week, citing concerns that Pzifer’s trial did not include enough Asian, and specifically Japanese, participants. This delay put the country two months behind the United Kingdom and America - which worries some experts given the time crunch.”
Read More“Although the conflict is relatively new, it is suspected that both the TPLF and the federal government had already made preparations before the first violence erupted in early November. Now the international community is extremely worried that this conflict will last for a damaging amount of time. Already in the course of months, most of the people within Tigray are in dire conditions.”
Read More“Early indications from President Biden and his secretaries is that U.S.-China policy will be more similar to his predecessor’s than many had initially anticipated. However, he will likely approach the dialogue with a greater attention to multilateralism and eye towards cooperation of climate change and COVID-19 relief.”
Read More“The Open Skies Treaty has gone from one of the most effective treaties in creating transparency and some semblance of trust across the international community to one that is now standing on its last legs. Even though he has left the White House, Donald Trump’s foreign policy still stands as an obstacle to international cooperation today.”
Read More“The military coup d’etat on February 1st comes after a sordid decade of politics in Myanmar. Tens of thousands of people protested in Myanmar last week after the military staged a coup on the pretense of an ignored fraudulent election. Protesters wore the colors of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party and used symbols such as the three-finger salute, from The Hunger Games, marching against the military takeover over the government.”
Read More““The previous round of sanctions for Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 are still being felt, with some estimates putting the impact of these prior sanctions at 6% of the entire Russian economy. With the current reality of a COVID-induced economic recession, the Russian government finds itself in a precarious position where they must balance the risk of releasing Nalvany and allowing him to organize protests, versus the economic consequences and metaphorical martyrdom of sending him to serve out his prison sentence.”
Read More“events in the Netherlands over the past week which, in response to stricter regulations and the implementation of a curfew, saw thousands take to the streets to protest, resulting in substantial damage, from smashed windows and fireworks to the burning of a COVID-19 testing center. The riots were in protest to the implementation of a curfew and harsher regulations across the country, which went into effect last Saturday, the day the riots began. According to a statement released by the Dutch government on January 20th, the new regulations were in response to concerns about new variants of the virus, stating, “The government is gravely concerned about the UK variant of COVID-19, which is even more infectious than the virus we are familiar with in the Netherlands. There are also other variants of the virus that are sparking concern,” adding that “New measures are needed in order to get these new variants under control.”
Read More“Given the starkly contrasting governing styles between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, it should not come as a surprise that American foreign policy is being reworked under the new administration. After relations with allies such as France and Germany were stained under the Trump Administration, several nations’ leaders now welcome the Biden Administration with open arms and have begun talks immediately”
Read More“Prior to opening the polls there were multiple acts of violence leaving 40 individuals dead and others wounded. The government took multiple measures to limit the media’s presence and opposition candidates were harassed by authorities. Museveni won the election with 58% of the vote while Wine had 34% of the votes according to the results.”
Read More“In one of his final acts as Secretary of State, Pompeo formally accused Beijing of genocide against the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority group. The Biden Administration inherits a myriad of foreign policy goals related to China and sees unique opportunities for bipartisan and multilateral action.”
Read More“The combination of toxic rhetoric and isolationist policies have distanced the United States from the international community so, with the ideologically conflicting events of the attempted coup by militants bearing Trump’s name and the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the past few weeks, the next few months will be crucial for the Biden-Harris administration.”
Read More“The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, which was established by the World Health Organization (WHO), released their second interim report in early January, outlining the myriad of things that went wrong during the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 34-page report is best summarized from a line that stated, “We have failed in our collective capacity to come together in solidarity to create a protective web of human security.”
Read More“Not only are the charges a flagrant violation of international human rights, they bring to debate the unlivable and dehumanizing conditions of the U.S. prison system, which for Assange could drive him to suicide.”
Read More“Earlier this month, UN counter-terrorism chief Vladimir Voronkov warned of terrorists exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic and appealing to new “racially, ethnically and politically motivated extremist groups.””
Read More“A global team of researchers from the World Health Organization arrived in China last Thursday to conduct a study of COVID-19’s origins. These investigations within China will play a key role in understanding the pandemic and what measures are needed to prevent future outbreaks. The real test of China’s compliance with international standards will be if this initial investigation by the WHO proceeds without further disruption from the Chinese government.”
Read More“An influential NATO ally, Turkey has sought membership into the EU since 2005, and the country has been a member of NATO since 1952. Yet accession negotiations to join the EU -- beginning in 2005 -- have followed a cycle of slow progress and disappointment. Notably along the way, Turkey has been at odds with several EU nations (and sometimes the entire EU altogether), with two of the most notable countries being France and Greece. So, the question that the international community and world order asks itself is: How, if at all, will Turkey’s current push to join the EU result any differently than before?”
Read More“On December 1, the Parliament of Iran passed a bill that gave the European nations a month to lift crippling oil and banking sanctions. Without sanction relief, Iran threatened to kick out UN nuclear inspectors, increase uranium enrichment to 20%, and install new centrifuges (necessary for uranium enrichment) at two prominent nuclear sites, Natanz and Fordo.”
Read More“Hungary has been on a shopping spree of military and defense technology in the past few years. These purchases are part of Hungary’s ten-year Zrinyi 2026 military development program with the aim to upgrade the country’s weapons and defense forces.”
Read More“The deal that ended this 6-week long battle was signed by Russian President Vladmir Putin, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The deal states that Nagorno-Karabakh would remain under Azerbaijiani control and Armenia would withdraw troops there and several surrounding regions. Additionally, President Putin announced that there would be an exchange of all prisoners of war. Russian peacekeepers have arrived in the region and continue to patrol for at least 5 weeks.”
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