The March 10, 2025, agreement between the SDF and the Damascus government included provisions on overcoming religious and sectarian divisions, officially recognizing the Kurds and securing their constitutional and citizenship rights and establishing a ceasefire across all of Syria. Regarding the country’s territorial and administrative structure, the most important article concerned the integration of the region under SDF control and ...
By Dr. Fernando Esteche On December 8, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice executed a seizure warrant against the vessel “Skipper” in international waters off the coast of Venezuela. The indictment was based on previous 2022 sanctions against the vessel (when it sailed under the name “Adisa”) for its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network that allegedly financed Iran’s ...
By Dr. Halim Gençoğlu (halim.gencoglu@wits.ac.za) Recent discourse on social media platforms, including statements by high-profile figures such as Elon Musk, has invoked simplified narratives framing Western intervention as the sole liberator from global slavery while downplaying the Ottoman Empire’s humanitarian role and the enduring legacies of Western colonialism in Africa. In a December 8, 2025, post on X (formerly Twitter), ...
By Mohammad Reza Moradi, General Director of Mehr News Agency’s Foreign Languages and International News Department In recent years, one of the most important developments in the global system has been the significant rapprochement between China and Saudi Arabia; a development that has not only shifted the traditional equations of the Middle East, but also has deeper roots in the ...
A document like a country’s “National Security Strategy,” such as the one recently announced by the United States, cannot be based on fiction and deceit. In presenting the document, President Trump resorted to all sorts of falsehoods, clearly to convince the stupefied American public that “they are winning.” It is a foreign policy document geared toward domestic politics. Likewise, it ...
By Orçun Göktürk, PhD Candidate at UIBE in Beijing / China French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent visit to China coincided with a period of rising China–Japan tensions and a short-lived “ceasefire” in China–US relations following the Busan talks. It also unfolded in an atmosphere where both Beijing’s strategy of “flexible diplomacy” toward Europe and Europe’s squeezed position between Washington and ...
By Adem Kılıç, Political Scientist The US recently published its new ‘National Security Strategy Document,’ which sets out its defense and foreign policy direction. Although the strategy document emphasizes the Trump administration’s global perspective and non-interventionist policies centered on ‘regional dominance’ and ‘the nation-state concept,’ the world is witnessing the almost complete opposite of these statements being implemented on the ...
As always, Türkiye had a packed agenda last week. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s visit to Iran and the statements he made there topped the list. Pope Francis’ visit to Türkiye and his meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was another major headline. The visit of Kurdistan Regional Government President Masoud Barzani, linked to Türkiye’s ongoing “Terror-Free Türkiye” process also sparked ...
By Héctor Bernardo* – The false rhetoric of the fight against drug trafficking used by the US government and right-wing groups in the region collapses when a quick review is made of Washington’s partners linked to drug trafficking. Among them are Juan Orlando Hernández, Horacio Cartes, Álvaro Uribe Vélez, Felipe Calderón, Enrique Peña Nieto, Daniel Noboa, Guillermo Lasso, Keiko Fujimori, ...
Iraq has held parliamentary elections to fill all 329 seats in parliament. The day was marked by increased voter turnout, and the results indicate progress for forces sympathetic to the resistance axis. Years after the US occupation, Iraq still has a fragmented structure, which is reflected in the political system, says Yakup Aslan, a journalist specialized on West Asian politics. ...
When Donald Trump was outlining his cabinet after being elected and before taking office, he made one decision: the neoconservatives who had caused him so many problems in his first administration would not have a place this time. Thus, he left out, among others, Mike Pompeo, Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, John Bolton, and Elliott Abrams, who had held high-ranking positions ...
Ukraine has claimed responsibility for attacks on Russian tankers in Türkiye’s Exclusive Economic Zone in the Black Sea. Therefore, these attacks constitute an open violation of Türkiye’s sovereignty by Ukraine. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued a statement on this matter and condemned these attacks. Targets of attacks in the Black Sea These attacks are driven by a ...