Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s tour portrayed Washington’s official strategy as more benevolent than it actually is
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin embarked on a tour of Africa this week, marking the first such visit by a Pentagon chief since 2020, when Mark Esper visited Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. In contrast to that occasion, when no attention was paid to Sub-Saharan Africa, Austin’s trip was intended to reaffirm the Biden administration’s posture that the US is
“all in for Africa...
US approaches to Russia should be seen in the broader context of US foreign policy
“All the world’s a stage,” proclaimed the hero of a Shakespearean comedy. If we follow this metaphor, presidential elections in America are always a multi-act drama, often turning into a melodrama with elements of tragicomedy and even farce. Major and minor characters perform on the political stage, sudden plot twists are punctuated by various special effects, and culminate in a colorful extravaganza in November...
... Chinese telecommunications company Huawei and a number of its subsidiaries were included in the Entity List of the US Department of Commerce — it was forbidden to supply certain goods in the field of electronics, including manufactured outside the USA using American technology. In addition, a number of Chinese companies have been placed on the Military End User List (MEU-List). These companies are prohibited from supplying certain items on the US Department of Commerce’s
Commerce Control List
...
The growing US-Japanese-South Korean military cooperation inevitably leads to stronger China-Russia-North Korea ties
The Russian-North Korean negotiations this month have provoked a lot of hype, particularly in the West. It is assumed by the West that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's trip might indicate a profound change in Moscow's overall approach to the security problems on the Korean Peninsula. Allegedly, a new so-called "Moscow-Beijing-Pyongyang axis" that harbors unquestionable...
Policy Brief #47 / 2023
Policy Brief #47 / 2023
The Middle East has been clearly showing signs that is it changing. It would not be an overstatement to say that a lot of what is happening now would have been unthinkable just a couple of years ago.
The greatest of these changes is the China-mediated rapprochement between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Given that these countries are regional “centers of power”, their new and improved relations may help reduce regional...
... General Assembly of the Russian resolution (A/RES/73/27), which formulated a set of 13 rules and norms of responsible behavior of states in the Internet space (ban on the use of intermediaries to commit cyberattacks, mandatory justification of any accusations of cyberattacks, assistance to states affected by cyberattacks if they request for help, cooperation with the private sector and civil society organizations in implementing the rules of responsible behavior of states in the Internet space). [
...
... introduced in 2014. Since the start of the Special Military Operation, the intensity of their application has increased significantly. The number of Russian individuals blocked by Executive Order No. 14024 of April 15, 2021 alone is approaching two thousand. This figure does not include those assets in which already-blocked persons hold a stake of 50% or more. It would seem that the number is relatively small. But the list of blocked persons includes a large number of systemically important Russian ...
Contemporary geopolitics is fueling terrorism’s further rise
Another anniversary of the tragic events in New York and Washington D.C. on September 11, 2001, leads to less than inspiring reflections on the outlook for international co-operation in the war on terrorism. It seemed to many 22 years ago that the world was irreversibly moving towards unity, and the obvious need to jointly confront the terrorist threat would be one of the factors accelerating this dynamic.
Immediately after the air strikes...
Like Russia, India is likely to resist the evolution of the international system towards a rigid U.S.-China bipolarity since such an evolution would inevitably deprive New Delhi of the freedom of manoeuvring that it enjoys now
Recently there have been many speculations about the likely future of India-US relations and their impact on the Indian posture within the emerging new world order. Indeed, the India-U.S. interaction represents one of the most important bilateral relationships in the modern...
... the 2000s, the Netherlands became an absolute leader—and later a monopolist—in the production of advanced equipment required for lithography of semiconductor circuitry on a silicon wafer. As a result, the current production chain may involve thousands of suppliers scattered around the world, many of them being absolute monopolists on the market. For example, U.S.-based companies such as
Cadence Design
and
Synopsis
control 90% of the market for electronic design automation tools (
EDA Tools
...
