Erdogan, Putin, Rouhani negotiations The Presidents of Turkey, Russia and Iran held a trilateral virtual summit on Syria. As a result of video negotiations, the leaders of the states – Recep Tayyip Erdogan Vladimir Putin, and Hassan Rouhani – adopted a joint resolution. During the video call, the leaders discussed humanitarian, economic and security issues. The leaders paid special attention ...
After a long period of silence during the Coronavirus epidemic, protests erupted again in Hong Kong. Last weekend, Hongkongers protested against what they called Beijing’s “dictatorship” – this time, a mainland Chinese security law initiative was the subject of their discontent. China has formally approved a plan to impose national security laws on Hong Kong. Why did the project cause such ...
Iranian tankers reach Venezuela in defiance of sanctions The administration of US President Donald Trump said that Washington is considering measures against Iran, which supplies gasoline and other petroleum products to Venezuela. Reuters, citing an anonymous official, wrote that Washington has a high degree of confidence that the Venezuelan government is paying Iran “tons of gold”. The Iranian side reacted ...
Protests in the Shia crescent: Iraq, Iran and Lebanon Several Middle Eastern Shia-majority countries have recently been rocked by mass protests. The protests which started in October in Iraq led to the resignation of the country’s PM, Adil Abdul-Mahdi. The protesters demands include calling for new elections (to fight ‘corruption’) and the withdrawal of the Iranian influence on Iraq (Shia ...
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Autonomous Region has announced its opposition to the US’ recently passed law on the protection of human rights and democracy in Hong Kong. On November 27, US President Donald Trump signed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 into law. The essence of the law The Hong Kong Democracy and Human Rights Act requires the ...
Instability in Iran Following the November 15 hike in gasoline prices (from 11,000 to 20,000 Iranian rials per liter), a wave of street protests began in cities across Iran, in many places turning into riots. Rioters set fire to banks, shops, gas stations and clashed with police. There are reports that some of the belligerents opened fire on law enforcement ...
A change of tactics The protests in Hong Kong have long since spilled over from peaceful channels into violent clashes between participants and the police. This time the battlefield has moved to the universities. On five campuses in China, students turned their universities into insurgent fortresses. The ensuing conflicts resembled medieval battles interspersed with the madness of Mad Max aesthetics: ...
Yellow vests The one year anniversary of the Yellow Vests protests took place this week in France. Over the course of a year, opponents of French President Emmanuel Macron’s liberal reforms have organized 53 “acts,” as the weekly protests have been designated. Dozens of people were arrested in connection with the latest demonstration. The protests began in 2018 with local ...
Protests in Hong Kong On Sunday, several districts in Hong Kong held anti-government protests. This time, groups of demonstrators gathered in shopping malls. At least 17 people between the ages of 19 and 55 were hospitalized with injuries of varying degrees of severity. The Hong Kong police detained more than 300 people between November 1 and 3 for illegal and ...
Washington has begun to spin its web of influence in the areas where China meets the West, particularly in Hong Kong, the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and Kashmir. The US is looming over these troubled regions like a spider, waiting for its victim to be rendered helpless. Although the US has begun to pivot heavily toward China, it has not ...