The resignation of the newly appointed Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan on April 23 after 11 days of mass demonstrations by the public have briefly brought back the sparkle of colored revolutions of the early 2000s to the Caucasus.
In the conventional parlance of international politics, Turkey and Greece have been in a rapprochement process since 1999 and their foreign ministries have also been engaged in high-level proximity talks.
The Syrian civil war has entered its eight year with no sign of ending soon. On the contrary, the further entanglement of regional and international actors in the conflict hints at a likely continuation of violence. The humanitarian aspect of the civil war has already become the biggest ever crisis in the world, with a huge number of internally displaced people, refugees, and people requiring assistance in the country. The involvement of regional and international actors with their varying aims further complicates the situation. There is clearly no easy way out the Syrian quagmire.
In the highly competitive and globalized atmosphere of international politics, states routinely use human intelligence, as well as technology, to gather information about each other.
Since the beginning of his presidency, Donald Trump has been astonishing global watchers with his unpredictable, harsh, and sometimes reckless style in policy implementation.
Hardly anyone notices these days, but Vladimir’s Putin’s Russia is heading towards another presidential election, or more correctly re-election, on March 18.
The land of Aphrodite was again on the news recently; this time with rising concerns over Greek Cypriot moves for off-shore energy exploration and Turkey’s naval move to block them. Although recent upsurge in violence in the Syrian civil war and the U.S.’s announcement to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem by May have recently dominated headlines in the region and around the world, tension has been rising around the island for some time, as the Italian energy firm ENI’s drilling ship, “Saipem 12000,” has been moving toward the region to which the Republic of Cyprus had allocated exploitation rights.
International forums that bring policy makers, experts and journalists together have become important platforms in the post-cold war era to deliver political messages and induce debate in a semi-friendly atmosphere. The Munich Security Conference or Davos Economic Forum have become such occasions, and are eagerly attended by policy-makers and analysts.
The Syrian civil war is soon to enter its eighth year.
