Η Τουρκία κλιμακώνει τις κινήσεις της στο Αιγαίο

Την στιγμή που οι διαπραγματεύσεις της ελληνικής κυβέρνησης με τους πιστωτές της φθάνουν στο πιο κρίσιμο σημείο τους, στο Αιγαίο η Τουρκία κλιμακώνει την επιθετική της τακτική, καθώς μία εβδομάδα μετά την δέσμευση μεγάλης περιοχής στο κεντρικό Αιγαίο ως πεδίο βολής μέχρι το τέλος του έτους, χθες Παρασκευή δέσμευσε και νέα περιοχή για ναυτική άσκηση.



Η δέσμευση θαλάσσιας περιοχής, ανατολικά της Σκύρου  προκάλεσε έντονες αντιδράσεις στα υπουργεία Άμυνας και Εξωτερικών , καθώς η τουρκική κίνηση απειλεί να βάλει ταφόπλακα στο Μνημόνιο Παπούλια- Γιλμάζ  σύμφωνα με το οποίο δεν πρέπει να πραγματοποιούνται ασκήσεις κατά την διάρκεια της τουριστικής περιόδου στο Αιγαίο.  Για τον λόγο αυτό έχουν ζητήσει από την Άγκυρα να ακυρώσει την άσκηση και να σεβαστεί τις συμφωνίες, που παρά τα προβλήματα άντεξαν στον χρόνο, όπως το Μνημόνιο Παπούλια Γιλμάζ που υπογράφηκε το 1988.

A Net Assessment of the Middle East

The term "Middle East" has become enormously elastic. The name originated with the British Foreign Office in the 19th century. The British divided the region into the Near East, the area closest to the United Kingdom and most of North Africa; the Far East, which was east of British India; and the Middle East, which was between British India and the Near East. It was a useful model for organizing the British Foreign Office and important for the region as well, since the British — and to a lesser extent the French — defined not only the names of the region but also the states that emerged in the Near and Far East.

Today, the term Middle East, to the extent that it means anything, refers to the Muslim-dominated countries west of Afghanistan and along the North African shore. With the exception of Turkey and Iran, the region is predominantly Arab and predominantly Muslim. Within this region, the British created political entities that were modeled on European nation-states. The British shaped the Arabian Peninsula, which had been inhabited by tribes forming complex coalitions, into Saudi Arabia, a state based on one of these tribes, the Sauds. The British also created Iraq and crafted Egypt into a united monarchy. Quite independent of the British, Turkey and Iran shaped themselves into secular nation-states.

China’s Energy Demand May Not Increase Until 2017

In this post I revisit the energy production and consumption data for China looking for clues about the future direction of global energy markets. China now consumes 23.2% of all energy consumed on Earth and clearly what happens in China will impact the whole world. Figure 1, lifted from the 2015 BP Statistical Review, shows how dramatically growth has slowed in China. Energy intensive steel and cement are barely growing as the era of industrialization and building infrastructure comes to an end. So may this, in part, explain the 2014 oil price crash?

Belgium seizes bank account of Russia's EU embassy

Russia has threatened to seize Belgian assets in Russia in retaliation for Belgian seizures linked to the break-up of Russian oil firm Yukos.

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  Russia's ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, who is, for other reasons, barred from entering the EU parliament (Photo: europarl.europa.eu)

The Russian foreign ministry said on Friday (19 June) that unless Belgium does a U-turn, it will “be forced to consider the adoption of adequate response measures against … the property of the embassy of Belgium in Moscow, as well as its legal entities”.