Monday 27 June marked the 100th day of NATO’s air war against Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Qadhafi. By contrast, in 1999, it took 78 days of a much heavier air bombardment for NATO to force then Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw his military forces from the Serbian province of Kosovo. Back then, the US… [Read more]
Russia has arguably emerged as a key beneficiary of the current political crises in the Middle East and North Africa, mainly because events there have undermined the United States’ geopolitical position, sown divisions with NATO, and driven up oil prices. At the same time, the Japanese earthquake will probably increase Japan’s dependence on Russian energy… [Read more]
Reports that US President Barack Obama will overhaul a plan to build a missile defence shield in the Czech Republic and Poland would appear to represent a major foreign policy shift on Washington’s part, given that the shield was eagerly championed by the Bush administration. The official explanation for Obama’s shift is that Iran’s missiles… [Read more]