Despite tensions, China’s state visit to US an important step

Despite rising tensions stemming from Beijing‘s assertiveness over the Asia Pacific and alleged involvement in recent cyber-attacks targeting Washington, President Xi Jimping’s upcoming state visit to Washington represents an important step in Sino-American relations.

The expected upcoming visit of President Xi Jimping to Washington offers an interesting opportunity to assess the development of Obama’s policy toward China. Characterised by American wishes to see Beijing play a greater role in the world affairs, the trip will also shaping a diplomatic framework based on a new model of Major Power Relations.

Greece between Russia and the United States: The Syria-bound flights

On September 6, Washington asked Athens to close airspace to Syria-bound Russian aid flights. Earlier the same day, Kremlin requested and received Athens permission to transport humanitarian aid to Syria for the period between September 1-24.  A quagmire for the interim government in Greece?

A truly hard and complex decision was made by the interim government in Athens which essentially has no full authorization to deal with such delicate political and strategic decisions. Nevertheless, the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded negatively to US request.  This decision will go without repercussions for the Greek side, but it is meaningful of how both the US and Russia are planning to employ their influence on the surrounding and neighboring countries,  as well to the biggest reception and first transit states for refugees, like Greece.

Russia Is Destroying Its Food

Forecast

• A Kremlin crackdown on food imports that violate Russian sanctions will continue to draw criticism throughout Russia.
• If the Kremlin continues with its crackdown, protests will expand.
• To limit the backlash, Moscow may opt for sporadic crackdowns rather than systematic enforcement of food sanctions.

Εμπιστευτική έκθεση του ΟΑΣΕ για σχέσεις Αλβανών πολιτικών με το οργανωμένο έγκλημα - Τι λέει για Ράμα και Μπερίσα

Για άμεση ή έμμεση σχέση κορυφαίων πολιτικών στελεχών της Αλβανίας με το οργανωμένο έγκλημα και το λαθρεμπόριο κάνει λόγο ο Οργανισμός για την Ασφάλεια και τη Συνεργασία στην Ευρώπη (ΟΑΣΕ) σε πολυσέλιδη εμπιστευτική έκθεσή του, που δημοσιεύει η ιστοσελίδα Lapsi.al.

Η έκθεση, που συντάχθηκε πριν από περίπου έναν χρόνο, δεν αποτελεί επίσημη θέση του ΟΑΣΕ, αλλά είναι αναμφίβολα μία από τις πλατφόρμες, πάνω στις οποίες αρκετούς μήνες τώρα, έχει ξεκινήσει η μάχη για την αποποινικοποίηση της πολιτικής στην Αλβανία.

7 Middle East crises that are a bigger problem than Iran’s nuclear program

The Obama administration secured vital support for the Iran deal this week, after it emerged that at least 42 senators endorsed the proposed agreement, announced in July in Vienna at a summit between Iran and world powers. The White House likely won't have to veto a congressional bill aimed against it, meaning the pact's smooth passage is now more or less a fait accompli.

An undated image allegedly shows smoke billowing from the Baal Shamin temple in Syria's ancient city of Palmyra going up in a plume of smoke. (Welayat Homs/AFP)

That, of course, doesn't mean the rancorous debate over the rights and wrongs of the deal will end. The threat of Tehran's nuclear program has seemingly sucked up all the foreign policy oxygen in Washington in recent months and will stalk the election campaign in the months ahead, beginning with a Donald Trump-Ted Cruz rally on Wednesday in the capital.

Anti-Submarine Operations in the Indian Ocean

Malabar 2012

Image Credit: Official U.S. Navy Page

As India and Australia prepare to embark on their first-ever bilateral naval interaction in the Bay of Bengal this month, reports suggest the exercises will focus on anti-submarine warfare (ASW). This is being seen as evidence of a growing regional consensus on the threat posed by Chinese undersea operations in the Asian littorals. Australia is reported to be sending a Lockheed Martin’s P-3 anti-submarine reconnaissance aircraft, a Collins-class submarine, and ASW frigates, while India will be deploying a P-8 long-range anti-submarine aircraft, along with other surface assets.

Τα κράτη του Κόλπου και η υποχώρηση του πετρελαίου

Η πτώση των τιμών του πετρελαίου κατά 55% στο προηγούμενο έτος, προέρχεται από μια κλασική ανισορροπία προσφοράς και ζήτησης. Ενώ η ζήτηση αυξήθηκε με μέτριους ρυθμούς εξαιτίας της βραδείας οικονομικής ανάπτυξης ή της οικονομικής στασιμότητας σε πολλά μέρη του πλανήτη, η προσφορά αυξάνεται με πιο ταχύ ρυθμό. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, η προσφορά στις ΗΠΑ έχει αυξηθεί και η παραγωγή του OPEC –η οποία περιλαμβάνει τους μεγάλους Άραβες παραγωγείς, το Ιράν και άλλες χώρες- έχει υπερβεί τη ζήτηση.

Moving Toward a Geopolitical Marketplace

This column frames a question to which I do not have the answer. Or think of it as a historical agenda: How can we bring the logic of free market exchange into the domain of geopolitical conflict?

Why would we want to do such a thing? It's not simply a matter of substituting gold for guns, or nonviolent exchange for violent exchange. The question I am posing is not based on some utopian hope for perpetual peace. The distinction I want to focus on is the difference between zero-sum conflict and positive-sum exchange.

Μετανάστες δια θαλάσσης, τότε και τώρα

Ένα καΐκι φθάνει στην προβλήτα του Καλαί. 1803, Joseph Mallord William Turner. NATIONAL GALLERY

Την 1η Αυγούστου 1686, στις οκτώ το πρωί, ένα μικρό πλοίο αγκυροβόλησε έξω από την ακτή του Ντόβερ. Μεταξύ εκείνων που σύρθηκαν στην παραλία ήταν ένας 26χρονος Καλβινιστής Γάλλος από το Calais, ο Ισαάκ Μινέ (Isaac Minet). Ο Minet είχε τελικά καταφέρει να αφήσει την πατρίδα του μαζί με την 65χρονη μητέρα του, Σουζάν, την μικρότερη αδελφή του Ελισάβετ, και 15 άλλους άνδρες, γυναίκες και παιδιά. Στην περιοχή του Calais, η ανάρρηση του Λουδοβίκου του 14ου, του πιο Καθολικού μονάρχη, στον θρόνο της Γαλλίας προανήγγειλε την αύξηση της κρατικής δίωξης εναντίον της προτεσταντικής μειονότητας.

South Sudan’s Peace Deal Never Stood a Chance

In the middle of a hot, clear day on Aug. 21, roughly 2,000 people packed around the John Garang Mausoleum in downtown Juba to shout down the latest deal to end South Sudan’s nearly two-year-long war. Organized by the government, it was an event for true believers, those somehow insulated from the economic ravages of the war: young boys and girls in school uniform, men in suits, and women in colorful dresses. As a DJ sang over pre-recorded music blaring on massive speakers, praising South Sudan and its president, Salva Kiir, participants held large signs written in English declaring “one army, not two” and “no regime change through violence.”