By Mehmet Emre Öztürk The informal QUAD-Group (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue), comprised of the US, India, Australia and Japan, has held a virtual meeting on presidential level on March 12 in its quest for an Indo-Pacific alliance. The process, described by the US as “historic”, aims to institutionalize the QUAD and create an alliance against China in the Indo-Pacific. The US ...

Lavrov in Damascus On September 7, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Damascus. This was the first visit of Lavrov to Syria since February 2012. As UWI wrote, “in his statements in Damascus, Lavrov emphasized the importance and success of the Astana process and the necessity of focusing on a common goal”. ‘Winning thanks to the Astana process’ – ...

As the situation around Iran continues deteriorating, Japan has taken up an initiative to broker peace and to scale down the tensions between Washington and Tehran. While the situation kept aggravating, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he was heading on a diplomatic mission to Iran. The reports on the Japanese Prime Minister’s forthcoming visit on the background of the reciprocal ...

Recently President Donald Trump, while in Tokyo, said that he would support Shinzo Abe’s efforts to mediate between Iran and the US. Trump also said: “I know that the prime minister and Japan have a very good relationship with Iran so we’ll see what happens.” He added: “Washington was not interested in regime change in Iran. I’m looking to Iran ...