Tag Archives: European Union

Just when China influence over Europe seemed to expand into full blast, the Covid-19 crisis seems to have put a serious stop to it. The biggest geopolitical prize in the raising USA – Chinese challenge is the European Union, formerly anchored securely in the Western side but in recent years …

The EU denied Monday bowing to Chinese pressure to water down a report on coronavirus disinformation to soften criticism of Beijing. Various international media said that, under pressure from Beijing officials, the EU had delayed publication of a regular report on disinformation trends last week, and toned down the final …

Donald Trump’s controversial decision to slap tariffs on steel and aluminium imports sent world stock markets slumping on Friday as the move fuelled fresh fears of a global trade war, dealers said. Traders, already on edge over worries about rising US interest rates, followed Wall Street sharply lower after the …

Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, announced that he would sign a highly controversial bill Tuesday that will ban most Holocaust accusations against Poles as well as descriptions of Nazi death camps as Polish — likely raising tensions with the United States and Israel, which have criticized the measure. An ally of the ruling right-wing Law and Justice Party who occasionally has been willing …

Iran accused the United States on Sunday of threatening Russia with new atomic weapons after Washington published a document outlining plans to expand its nuclear capabilities to deter others. The review of U.S. nuclear policy published on Friday has riled Russia, which viewed the document as confrontational, and raised fears …

United Nations Security Council (UNSC) envoys are set to visit Washington to see debris purportedly from a Yemeni missile that reached deep inside Saudi territory last year, with the US claiming that it was supplied by Iran. The envoys will visit a military hangar in Washington on Monday, where US Ambassador …

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov says a new US push aimed at changing the terms of the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal is unlikely to bring forth “positive” results. “[Moscow] does not expect any positive developments in the light of such decisions and possible agreements,” Ryabkov told Russia’s Sputnik news agency on Tuesday. Earlier this …

President Trump faces a deadline Friday to say whether he will continue to exempt Iran from a suite of tough economic sanctions under the landmark international nuclear deal he has called an embarrassment for the United States. The administration said Thursday that it plans additional sanctions that are separate from those covered …

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will visit Paris on Jan. 5 to meet his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, with the conflict in Syria high on the agenda, a source in the French president’s office said on Saturday. Among the regional crises the two leaders plan to discuss, there would be a …

News outlet RT has registered as an agent of a foreign government in America, after years of accusations that it was a propaganda arm of the Russian government. So what is RT and why has it become the subject of fierce debate in the US? It was a late February …

By Sara Safa “International sanctions” is a new term in international politics and a new strategy or political instrument that came more operational in the early 1970’s after US withdrawal from the Vietnam war amid several challenges and a real economic pressure that the US had to face especially after …

Sir Vince Cable – the likely next Lib Dem leader – says he is “beginning to think Brexit may never happen”. He said “enormous” divisions in the Labour and the Tory parties and a “deteriorating” economy would make people think again. “People will realise that we didn’t vote to be …

BY GUY FAULCONBRIDGE AND KATE HOLTON for REUTERS — Britain voted to leave the European Union, forcing the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron and dealing the biggest blow to the European project of greater unity since World War Two. Global financial markets plunged on Friday as results from a …

By John Lloyd for REUTERS — A police helicopter hovers over Brussels’ rooftops following bomb attacks in Brussels, Belgium, March 22, 2016. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann – RTSBQZ6 A police helicopter hovers over Brussels’ rooftops following bomb attacks in the Belgian city, March 22, 2016. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann With every bloody episode that …

The Levant News — By Graham E. Fuller — It does not take much imagination to see where refugees are taking the world over the longer run. This issue currently lies at the heart of some very ugly American politics. It is also tearing apart one of the noblest political …

The Levant- – Some Iraqi soldiers are abandoning their posts and joining a wave of civilian migrants headed to Europe, raising new doubts about the cohesion of the country’s Western-backed security forces in the fight against ISIS militants.   Interviews with migrants and an analysis of social media activity show scores …

The Levant – – Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook told employees in an internal message on Friday, that Apple Inc is stepping up aid to the thousands of migrants that are streaming into Europe from war-torn countries. Cook wrote in a message on the company’s intranet site that the Macbook …

The Levant – – More than 20,000 migrants, have streamed into Croatia since Hungary on Tuesday barred their route to the European Union through its southern border with Serbia with a metal fence, tear gas and water cannon. Croatia said on Saturday it had “forced” Hungary to take in thousands of …

By Mitchell Plitnick — On Wednesday, the Senate adopted an amendment to the Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 (TPA) designed to defend Israel against the global “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement” (BDS). A similar amendment was adopted in the House of Representatives. Whatever one thinks of the …

THE LEVANT  – Iran and world powers appeared set Saturday for a fresh round of cliffhanger nuclear talks in a bid to break the deadlock two days ahead of a deadline. In a sign of the high stakes involved, US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Mohammed Javad …

THE LEVANT  – Israel has hit out at Sweden’s newly elected prime minister Stefan Loefven over his decision to recognise a Palestinian state. “Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that he regrets that the new prime minister was in a hurry to make statements on Sweden’s position regarding recognition of a …