By Adem Kılıç, Political Scientist/Writer The remarks made by Tom Barrack, the US Special Representative for Syria, in recent months that ‘the Sykes-Picot era is now over’ have undoubtedly sparked a new debate. While some commentators suggest that this is an admission that Western hegemony in the region is now being dismantled, I have opposed this view from the outset ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer Southeast Asian urbanization is a demographic tendency—it is additionally a political, economic, and ecological milestone. As urban masses swell with countryside-to-city migration, increased incomes, and urban infrastructure expansion, the region grapples with a query squarely at the hub of sustainable growth: can ASEAN urbanize without eroding its ecological carrying capacity? The answer, increasingly, is located in ...
By Orçun Göktürk, from Beijing / China While the world was focused on U.S. President Donald Trump’s essentially “dictated” ceasefire in Gaza, his 20-point “Peace Plan,” and diplomacy in Western Asia, an unexpected move from Beijing redrew the global economic map and the contours of U.S.-China relations. On October 9, China’s Ministry of Commerce announced a new decree dramatically restricting ...
By Mohammed Sabreen, from Cairo / Egypt US President Donald Trump is pursuing the elusive “peace” in the Middle East through the gateway of ending the war in Gaza. Trump has tried hard to market himself as a “peacemaker” and end numerous conflicts, hoping to win the Nobel Peace Prize. However, the Nobel Committee was not convinced and chose the ...
by Fabrizio Verde, from Caracas / Venezuela Late August. The Caribbean Sea—usually a postcard of turquoise waters and cruise-ship tranquility—has turned into a stage for Cold War–style brinkmanship. The United States, in a move evoking its darkest interventions, has deployed warships and a nuclear-powered submarine just miles off Venezuela’s coast. The official pretext? The “war on drugs.” But this accusation ...
By Rodolfo Treber, Buenos Aires, Argentina* The economic policy of Javier Milei ‘s government consolidates a historical pattern in Argentina’s relationship with international financial capital: the use of foreign debt not as an instrument of development, but as a mechanism of political domination and sovereign subordination. The recent swap agreement with the United States Federal Reserve represents a new chapter ...
By Islam Farag, from Cairo / Egypt In the early hours of last Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had reached the first phase of a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip. As the ceasefire took effect, ending a two-year war, cautious optimism mixed with deep apprehension prevailed. Observers continue to question whether the agreement, shrouded ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer Short-sea shipping has been the backbone of maritime Southeast Asia for centuries. From Singapore and Manila ports to Indonesia’s sea lines of the archipelago and the inland water transport network of the Mekong Delta, short-sea shipping is an economic driver and a logistics imperative. Yet even as it plays a vital role in intra-regional trade, ASEAN’s ...
By Gökalp Erbaş The proposal of Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which is part of the ruling coalition in Türkiye, for a “Türkiye-Russia-China (TRÇ) alliance against the US-Israel evil alliance” has sparked discussions about the possibility and conditions of such an alliance. One wonders how this alliance proposal resonates in the world and especially in Russia. ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer The promise of a “New Malaysia” first captured global attention in 2018, when a surprise electoral upset ended sixty-two unbroken years of Barisan Nasional coalition government. Pakatan Harapan coalition win—and return to politics of veteran politician Mahathir Mohamad—was welcomed as a democratic victory, a harbinger that Malaysia was poised to redefine itself politically, economically, and diplomatically. ...