analysis
The Genealogy of Trumpism
Trump's policies seem to defy all logic. The closest parallel would be the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose entourage was riddled with Soviet agents.
On the Caspian Sea and the Ineptitude of Western Capitals: The “Forgotten” Eurasia
At the crossroads of Turkish, Russian, Chinese and Iranian ambitions, the Caspian Basin is once again becoming a strategic issue while Europe looks elsewhere.
U.S.-Iran Nuclear Negotiations: The Enduring Moscow–Tehran Axis
Seven years after Donald Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA), the unpredictable U.S. president announced the resumption of negotiations. These began in Oman on April 13. Some see the discussions between the Americans and Russians as an attempt to “pin...
ReArmed Europe: A Trump-Induced Strategic Awakening
Donald Trump’s return to power has shattered long-held certainties across the Atlantic. With NATO shaken and U.S. support for Ukraine suspended, Europe finds itself forced into a historic reckoning: stand together – or stand alone.
Do Ukrainian Lives Really Matter?
American public opinion is strongly pro-Ukrainian, so Trump would have difficulty abandoning Ukraine.
The Black Sea and its Stakes in the Ukrainian War
A "botched peace" imposed by Trump would cause a disruption of the balance in the Black Sea and change the geopolitical situation in the entire region.
“Game of Trump”: The Fate of Ukraine and the Need for European Geopolitical Consolidation
American diplomacy could give way to Russia not only in Ukraine, but in the whole of Central and Eastern Europe. This raises the urgency of greater autonomy for European allies.
Making Putin Happy Again
Trump's submission to Putin endangers the entire European continent. In the face of American cynicism, Volodymyr Zelensky and his European partners must adopt a position of strength.
The Baltic, a “NATO Lake”? Moscow’s Aggressive Policy in the Nordic-Baltic Region
European NATO members face Russian sabotage in the Baltic.
Confronting the Moscow-Beijing Axis: The Need for a Common Western Front in the Arctic
Donald Trump must be taken seriously in his speech on Greenland, which covers many geopolitical issues.
Against all odds: Trump, Ukraine, and Unmalleable Reality
Donald Trump may fall for the Kremlin's trick, but Ukrainians will not stop fighting.
Moscow-Benghazi: scope and limitations of Russia’s shift to Libya
The “conflicting synergy” between Russia and Turkey will not prevent Putin from continuing his destabilizing action in the Western Mediterranean.
The Moscow-Beijing-Pyongyang triangle
The rapprochement between North Korea and Russia is strengthening, despite China's discontent. Can we then hope for a cooling of Russian-Chinese relations?
Fighting a ‘Holy War’: North Korea’s Role in Putin’s Crusade Against Ukraine
With a second nuclear-armed state entering the war against Ukraine, democratic governments face increasingly difficult choices.
In Georgia, Resistance Gains Momentum
Disparate social and political groups unite with ultimate determination to save the republic and the country's European future.
Driving the Russians out of Syria
After the fall of Assad, the question of Russian bases in Syria is pending. The strategic stakes are major.
On the Axis of Evil and Naming the Powers Hostile to the West
Their level of coordination is already much higher than that of the Axis powers before WWII.
Going along with Trump
With the new American president, Ukrainians can hope for a decent peace, but must prepare for the worst.
Vladimir Putin’s Role Models
If the Russian president has almost rehabilitated Stalin, he has mainly drawn inspiration from Andropov and Primakov.
The Election of Donald Trump, the “Pivot” to Asia, and the Europeanization of NATO
How to avoid a geostrategic decoupling between the two shores of the North Atlantic?
Russia: Converging Boomerang Effects
This text is an expanded version of the presentation at the symposium “China-Russia: Affinities and Differences” (Sorbonne, May 10, 2024), in the roundtable “Stability and Fragility Factors of the Two Regimes.” Françoise Thom provides a masterful description of the current state of the Russian regime, its strengths and weaknesses,...
Moscow and Pyongyang’s Alliance and Maneuvers on the Eurasian Stage: Let Us Stop Being in Denial
When Vladimir Putin welcomed Kim Jong-un to the Russian Far East from September 13 to 15, 2023, and the North Korean leader visited the Vostochny cosmodrome, a number of commentators said these were futile maneuvers. However, the delivery of North Korean munitions enabled Russia to make up for the...
The Sino-Russian Axis and its Extensions: The Challenge of Naming Reality
Putin's Russia-Eurasia and Xi Jinping's neo-Maoist China are maneuvering together.
Toward a Munich-Style Agreement, Slowly but Surely, and the Return of Feudalism
The lost time makes it increasingly difficult to thwart the project of world vassalization pursued by Xi Jinping and Putin.
Ukraine’s three fronts
It must fight not only against the Russian enemy, but also against the fears, prejudices and procrastination of the West.
Russia-Mongolia: Constraints Weighing on Mongolian Diplomacy
This country, a signatory to the Treaty of Rome, welcomed Putin despite the international arrest warrant. In truth, Mongolia's latitude for action is limited.
Regarding the Washington Summit: A Plea to NATO
What is the future of the alliance in the face of the very probable election of Donald Trump next November, a flamboyant survivor of an attack against him?
Orbán’s “Peace Mission” and the EU
Viktor Orbán is clearly positioning himself as a European link between Putin and Trump, despite the EU's disapproval.
French Sovereignty and Western Solidarity in the Face of the Moscow-Tehran-Beijing Axis
The concrete exercise of sovereignty requires a certain number of conditions, including a clear awareness of the issues of the time.
Tomorrow: France Versus Ukraine? A Momentum Cut Short
While France has made remarkable conceptual progress in its support for Ukraine in recent months, a victory for the far right could call this into question at the worst possible moment.
Toward a Putinization of France?
This essay deals with both history and current events. The author demonstrates how Putin’s regime and its ideologues work to destroy French society from within and make it an ally of Moscow. Françoise Thom also recalls how the "popular fronts" in the Eastern countries freshly occupied by the USSR...
South Africa, an Ally of Russia in Africa and Within the Global South
We must stop treating South Africa as some kind of liberal democracy on the African continent.
On Indian Diplomacy, Sino-Russian Eurasia, and the West: Towards a Geopolitical Transformation of India?
It is often said that India, along with Iran, is part of this anti-Western club. This is to forget that the differences between China and India are old and deep.
Why and how Russia is Transferring Ukrainian Children
One of the goals of the Russian invasion is to capture and then Russify large numbers of Ukrainian citizens in order to support Russia's declining demographics.
The Indispensable Return of America
The delay in the vote by the American Congress on a new tranche of aid to Ukraine is being paid very dearly in Ukraine and on the international scene. This delay having allowed Russia to strengthen itself, the war will still be long and costly.
De-Stalinization and de-Putinization
The Russian Electoral Commission did not validate the candidacy of Boris Nadezhdin. But the emergence of such a candidate is symptomatic. The atmosphere in Russia in recent months is strikingly reminiscent of that at the end of Stalin’s rule.
Ukraine’s Dark Clouds – and a Silver Lining?
By the end of last year, international news on Ukraine began increasingly to look like obituaries. “Kyiv on edge,” “Ukraine’s grim prospects,” “Ukraine braces for political disaster,” “Ukraine’s nightmare scenario is now a reality”: these are just a few headlines…
Neither Moralistic nor Quixotic, Support for Ukraine is a Political and Moral Imperative
We all know how defeatists exploit the recent comments of General Valery Zaluzhny, the Ukrainian Chief of Staff, who spoke of a possible strategic impasse in the absence of a qualitative leap in military technology. Pro-Russians and Putinophiles want to see this as an admission of defeat that must...
Would Brussels Fall for Russia’s Trick of Obfuscated Political Reality in Georgia?
While Europeans saw the failure of the attempt to depose the Georgian president as "a victory for Georgia's European future", Jaba Devdariani shows, with facts to back it up, that it was in fact a maneuver by the Georgian government to conceal an otherwise serious affair of collusion by...
Why Putin Chooses Chaos
Putin’s speech to Valdai unambiguously states his intention to destroy the international order and create chaos in its place in order to indulge in depredations without constraint. The support for Hamas displayed by Putin and his propagandists perfectly illustrates these aspirations.
The Second Front
Russia is carrying out undermining work among the Ukrainians themselves, but also by infiltrating Western decision-making circles, in Washington and in European capitals. Preventing Western support for a final victory for Ukraine and discouraging Ukrainians from fighting until victory, these are the Russian objectives that our author analyzes and denounces.
NATO, the Only Real Guarantee of Security for a Free and Independent Ukraine
After heavy tanks and long-range missiles, the lifting of the ban on the delivery of F-16 aircraft marks a new stage in the strengthening of the Ukrainian armed forces. In military and operational terms, this army is on a par with those of the main NATO member countries. When...
The Toxic Spell of “Imperial Knowledge”
In this paper, the Ukrainian political scientist and thinker explains how the Russian imperial vision of Ukraine has penetrated deep into Western society, how its most toxic myths and clichés have been uncritically accepted and normalized, and how this has helped to spread the rhetoric of Russian propaganda around...
The Harmful Role of the Kremlin and Wagner in Sudan
From the beginning of the conflict between the two military leaders who exercise power in Sudan, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan "Hemedti" Dagolo, pro-Russian voices have supported the latter: Hemedti would not be involved with the Sudanese Islamists. Implicitly, Vladimir Putin is camped as a...
The Strategic and Geopolitical Limits of the Partnership Between Delhi and Moscow
India has gone from neutrality to "multi-alignment". It does not condemn the Russian aggression in Ukraine and rejects international sanctions. In fact, it is buying Russian hydrocarbons and fertilizers en masse. To justify themselves, Indian leaders refer to Kautilya, author of the Arthashastra, an ancient indigenous form of Realpolitik,...
A Geopolitical Mirage: the “De-westernization” of the World
Analyst and political philosopher Philippe de Lara examines the complexity of the notion of the "global South". The growing disenchantment with the West that can be observed in several regions of the world does not mean that the countries of the South have defined a united position in the...
From Belarus to Belorussia: the Resatellisation of a Former Soviet Republic
Since the worst cannot be ruled out, strategists need to "think the unthinkable". Thus, the announcement of the future deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus cannot be reduced to a rant, especially since these would in fact be battlefield weapons, with a range sufficient to strike a...
Sanctions: Useless, Really?
Criticism mounts today in the West with the strong encouragement of Kremlin propaganda against the sanctions put in place following Russian aggression against Ukraine. These sanctions were adopted in order to "weaken the Kremlin's ability to finance the war and to impose clear economic and political costs on the...
Russia: the Impossible “Union Sacrée”
Union sacrée: united patriotic front of all parties formed at the beginning of the first World War.
The historian Françoise Thom reminds us that the theme of the Union sacrée has already been exploited in Russian history. Today, the call of the regime's propagandists for a holy alliance against the...
In Ukraine, the Pressing Commitment of International Law
International law sometimes seems to be a forgotten authority among commentators of the Russian war against Ukraine. Often barely mentioned during Russian atrocities in Chechnya, Georgia and Syria, it is nevertheless the ultimate guide that should underpin our judgments and our ambitions. The Russian aggression was in part made...
To Europe “po Blatu”
It seems that less-than-democratic regimes in the Balkans and the Caucasus are entertaining the feeling that Victor Orban’s Hungary represents their access point to the European Union on their own terms. We are witnessing the revival of a very Soviet concept of “blat” on European soil.
Anyone who has lived,...
And now? On the Possibility of an All-out War
The war in Ukraine is in full swing. The order for the "partial mobilization" of Russian army reservists and part of the male population to go and fight in Ukraine, and the concomitant organization of pseudo-referendums in the occupied territories, have aroused a mixture of indignation and denigration in...
China and India’s distance from Russia’s war on Ukraine may become a trap
Recently, Beijing and Delhi have shown a certain distance towards the Russian aggression against Ukraine and suggested to Moscow to stop it and accept negotiations. However, one should not look at these steps with naive optimism, because it is not a question of letting go of Russia, far from...
Iran, a platform for circumventing sanctions against Russia
According to the French geopolitologist, the Russian-Iranian alliance is strengthening against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, and Iran could become a platform for circumventing the geo-economic measures taken against Russia.
At this time, it is not clear that the Iranian nuclear agreement will be renewed, as negotiations are...
The Serbia-Russia Alliance, Belgrade’s Multi-faceted Diplomacy and the Improbable European Perspective
The European Union's acceptance of Kiev's candidacy, an adequate but insufficient decision to ensure Ukraine's defense, has repercussions in the Western Balkans.
Meeting on the eve of the European Council of June 23 and 24, the EU-Western Balkans summit did not result in any strong decision. This lack of a...
Putin: the Phase of Self-destruction
The Russian president is unable to learn from his mistakes, or even admit that he is not infallible. His reaction to each failure is escalation, as if he were trying to get a little more stuck. This logic of destruction is turning against the instruments of Russian power.
The scuttling...
Georgia: to be or not to Be
Russia's aggression against Ukraine is having a considerable impact in the former Soviet countries. In many of them, it is reflected in a political crisis, open in Georgia, latent in Central Asia. Public opinion may be mobilized in favor of Ukraine but governments are choosing to be cautious and...
After Emmanuel Macron’s Trip to Kyiv, the end of France’s Russian Illusions?
Emmanuel Macron’s trip to Kyiv on June 16, 2022, where he was accompanied by the Romanian President, the German Chancellor and the Italian Prime Minister, seemed to mark a turning point in French foreign policy. But should this be seen as a break? Does France remain in the middle...
Why the Putin System Carries war Like a Cloud Carries a Storm
The trajectory of the current Russian regime was predictable from the first weeks of Putin's reign. It is immediately apparent that the absolute priority of the budding system is control. First the control of the elites and then the control of the society. It soon becomes clear that this...
Why do we Want Ukraine to Win?
Today, the Ukrainian army is being tested in the Don basin. Some people explain that it would have to consent to a Russian victory. Is this a mood swing or cowardly hypocrisy? It is important to realize that Russia's war against Ukraine is a long-term one and that we...
Europe Must Accept Being at War
Accustomed to post WW2 peacetime, European politicians refuse to think about the war as state and as a process with its own political, social and economic dynamics. This breeds strategic myopia and tactical confusion.
The European Union is a peaceful alliance — yet it is a brainchild of people who...
History, Geopolitics and Perspectives of the Baltic Sea
On May 17, 2022, Finland officially announced its candidacy for NATO membership. And this, in spite of Moscow's threats of future "military-technical measures". The same goes for Sweden, breaking with its historical neutrality (1814), which is much older than Finland's. Finland's and Sweden's entry into NATO will profoundly modify...
The special orthodoxy of Pope Francis
Historian Françoise Thom examines the relationship between the Russian Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis and the latter's recent statements about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to the author, these statements, welcomed by the Kremlin, show the ideological erring of the Pope and weaken Catholicism in Europe.
The turning point...
The UN, Russian Aggression and the Impasses of Collective Security: Elements of Analysis and Response
The UN is experiencing a serious crisis following the Russian aggression against Ukraine. The Security Council is paralyzed by the Russian use of its veto power, which serves to cover up its misdeeds and exactions. Is there a solution?
The majority votes of the United Nations General Assembly, first to...
Sergei Lavrov and the Return of Soviet and Russian Anti-Semitism
After Sergei Lavrov's outrageous statements about Hitler's "Jewish blood", which caused an outcry in Israel and around the world, Vladimir Putin is reported to have apologized in a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. But Boris Czerny, an expert on the Jewish heritage of Ukraine and Belarus,...
Reveling in Transgression
With Vladimir Putin, one always believes that the bottom of disgrace has been reached, that the Kremlin cannot do even worse. But since February 24, almost every day brings a new ignominy. Two recent episodes invite us to reflect on the Russian president's penchant for demonstratively trampling with relish...
Melancholic reflections on the French elections
The results of the first round of the French elections are astonishing. While Ukraine is desperately fighting to defend its freedom from the armed aggression of its eastern neighbor, more than half of the French voters gave their votes to parties that advocate leaving NATO and reversing alliances in...
Defederating Russia
What happened to the Russian Empire? It disintegrated at the end of an imperialist war. What happened to the Soviet Union? It disintegrated at the end of the Cold War. What will happen to the Russian Federation?
The answer is obvious, even if it saddens many. Russian patriotism is such...
Russian Ideologues Aim to Liquidate the Ukrainian Nation
The author examines the writings of the former Russian president and prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, who currently holds the post of vice-president of the Russian Security Council, and of one of the regime's rather discreet ideologues, Timofei Sergeytsev. Both advocate the destruction of Ukraine, whose name should not even...
Joe Biden and the “Butcher”: Truth and Exit
President Joe Biden’s phrase calling Vladimir Putin a “butcher” and his exhortation, if not his prayer, “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power” have provoked many reactions. In fact, they only expressed the truth. While some hide behind the saying “not all truth is good truth,” few...
Creating Frankenstein
Today’s Russia was largely prefigured by the red-brown coalition in the early 1990s, and Putin is just its embodiment, an epitome of the national (imperial) spirit, mentality and basic instincts. Without NATO expansion we would not have a "better" Russia today but we would certainly have many more countries...
Alternative History Against History: the Case of Vladimir Putin
"It is in the nature of a despotic government to give rise, even inadvertently, to jealousy among those who surround it: since the will of a single man can change the entire fate of each individual, fear and hope have too much room not to constantly stir up this...
How to Train Europe: the Kremlin’s Exploitation of the Ukrainian Crisis
Westerners are wondering about Putin's intentions regarding Ukraine. They take into account the slightest declarations that emanate from the Kremlin, the movements of troops, the evolution of propaganda. But the broader context of the crisis often escapes them. The destruction of the independent Ukrainian state is certainly a priority...
Facing Russia: the Polish Geostrategic Actor and the Euro-atlantic Balance
The international crisis provoked by the Kremlin's pressure on Ukraine, considered as a pseudo-state doomed to destruction, has the virtue of clarifying the lines of force of the global strategic configuration. On the one hand, the expression "new Cold War" is no longer the object of a Freudian denial:...
The Balkans Could be the Scene of a Future Diplomatic Confrontation With Russia
The Russian military threat to Ukraine and, by extension, to Mitteleuropa (Central and Eastern Europe, sometimes called "median") focuses the attention of diplomats and strategists on the Baltic-Black Sea isthmus and the Pontic Basin. However, it should not be forgotten that the so-called Mitteleuropa covers the entire area between...
Putin: Flirting With Armageddon
After the Westerners' refusal to accept the Russian ultimatum of December 17, the West is slowly becoming aware that the risk of war with Russia may be real, that it is more than just Ukraine, that Putin, this "latent extremist", according to the political scientist Gleb Pavlovski, may not...
Ukraine’s “European Dream”
Ukrainian political scientist analyzes Europe's attitude towards Ukraine. Despite the historical vocation of Ukraine to be part of the European family, the EU has always been reluctant to accept Ukraine's membership for fear of the Russian reaction. After the Russian aggression that has already caused thousands of civilian and...
Russian “new Weapons”: from Deterrence to Coercion?
Against the backdrop of a serious crisis in the eastern confines of Ukraine, where the sound of boots on the ground makes us fear a new Russian military offensive, the Kremlin has ordered the firing of a salvo of hypersonic "Zircon" missiles, and this on Christmas Eve (according to...
What Does the Russian Ultimatum to the West Mean?
On December 17, the Russian Foreign Ministry unveiled two draft texts — a "Treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation on Security Guarantees" and an "Agreement on Measures to Ensure the Security of the Russian Federation and the Member States of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization "....
The West under the Gun: how to Deal with a Blackmailer
The video-meeting between Biden and Putin on December 7 has given rise to much speculation in the small world of experts. Biden having previously consulted with France, Great Britain, Germany and Italy, and having threatened Putin with drastic sanctions if he attacked Ukraine, one might have thought that the...
Turkey and Ukraine: Ins and Outs of Their Defense Partnership
Meeting in Riga (Latvia) on 1 December 2021, representatives of NATO member countries reaffirmed their support for Ukraine. Indeed, tensions are rising on the Russian-Ukrainian borders, with the increase in Russian military resources raising fears of a new tactical strike on a portion of Ukrainian territory, or even an...
Malignant Influence and Counter-influence: Responding to an Asymmetric Threat
The influence strategy of the Kremlin, as indeed of any dictatorial and criminal state, must be studied rigorously and as exhaustively as possible. Only on the basis of this extensive and systematic knowledge will it be possible to take the necessary measures methodically. This essay also shows that counter-influence,...
Ukraine, the Frontline of Russia’s Hybrid Wars
The current situation on the borders of Poland and Latvia, neighbours of Lukashenko's Belarus, underscores the topicality of so-called "hybrid" wars. Ukraine, for its part, has long been exposed to threats and manoeuvring from the Kremlin, the "godfather" to the despotic leader of Belarus. In truth, Russia is waging...
The Ukrainian Geopolitical Pivot and the new Cold War
It took years for the expression "new Cold War" to become obvious. Still, one would like to reserve its use for the description of relations between China and the West. However, Russia is also a geopolitical problem and part of this new Cold War: its allegedly European character would...
Strategy of the Absurd
A lot of recent information about Russia can be disconcerting for a reasonable reader. It is absurd. It is incomprehensible. The behavior of the authorities towards the society is so harsh and unmotivated that one is reminded of Vaclav Havel's words about Absurdistan. But the idea of triumphant absurdity...
Can the European Union Build its Future Without Russia?
There is little room for maneuver in relations between the European Union and Russia, especially since the latter does not intend to negotiate or discuss anything. Moscow's geopolitical grievances and demands are directed at the West and, as things stand, Sino-Russian positions and interests are aligned. Russian and Chinese...
“Wagner” in Mali: the Tree Must not Hide the Forest
During the night of September 30 to October 1st, a Russian jumbo jet landed at the airport of Bamako (Mali). On its sides were four MI-171 helicopters. Thus, the information that the Malian military authorities (the result of two successive coups d'état) were negotiating with the Wagner group for...
How the Putin Regime Bets its Legitimacy at the Electoral Casino
In Russia, the election is a dirty game. The whole process is controlled by the bureaucracy, the information system, and intelligence services. Nothing is left to chance. During the legislative elections of 17-19 September 2021, no independent political figure was allowed to run. Only the Kremlin's party, United Russia,...
Russia, Afghanistan and Central Asia: a Geopolitical Overview
The evaporation of the Afghan National Army and the collapse of a state carried at arm's length by the United States and its allies will have surprised Russians, Chinese and Westerners alike. While many Russian commentators are showing a form of "Schadenfreude", the situation that could result — i.e....
The Taliban Against Russia? Neither Alliance, nor Fight
The victory of the Taliban was carefully prepared by Moscow: for a long time already, the Kremlin had been maintaining communication channels with this group officially recognized by the Russian state as a terrorist organization. In the short term, Putin seems to have completed a form of safe-conduct for...
Russian Military Power: A Seasoned Army Serving a Revisionist Geopolitical Project
In the West, the primacy of domestic objectives, the "long war" against Islamic terrorism and the perception of international rivalries through the prism of geo-economics have for a time obscured the Russian threat. However, Russia has largely professionalized, re-equipped, mobile and projectable forces (Ukraine, Syria, Libya, sub-Saharan Africa). Clearly,...
Russia’s Ukraine According to Putin: how This Propagandistic Narrative Risks Reaching the West
In a July 12, 2021 essay that caused a stir among security analysts, Vladimir Putin considered the Russian and Ukrainian peoples to be one. He almost explicitly denied Kyiv’s right to independence, thirty years after it had regained it. He has legitimized his aggression against Ukraine and, by the...
Russia: Facing the Afghan Wasp Nest
"Among our enemies, the most to be feared are often the smallest," said Lafontaine. Russia, which has strenuously worked for the advent of "multipolarity", i.e. systematically sabotaged American power, is in danger of making this bitter experience. Military expert Igor Korotchenko, known for his anti-Western diatribes, goes so far...
Putin and his Courtiers: a Cavalier Relationship With History
In an interview with the Financial Times on June 20, Vladislav Surkov, the architect of Putin's regime, compared the Russian president to Octavius, who ended the civil war in Rome and established the principate while restoring the Senate and preserving the appearances of the old Republic. Like Octavius (later...
A Perspective on the Russian-iranian Alliance
In September 2015, when Russia intervened militarily in Syria in order to save the regime of Bashar Al-Assad, guarantor of its strategic "assets" in situ (bases and radars), the maneuver generated a shameful relief among some Westerners. Vladimir Putin was going to fight jihadism and, at the same time,...
Putin-Biden: a Double-edged Summit
In Geneva on June 16, the American and Russian presidents, each in their own way, acknowledged that they had agreed on nothing, except that they should seek to get along better. The Geneva summit was indeed a meeting between two adversaries, not a conversation between two strategic partners.
Naturally, both...
The United States / Russia / China Triangle and the Improbability of a Reversal of Alliances
The priority given by American diplomacy to the Chinese threat sometimes leads to fears of a shift in favor of Russia, the objective being to drive a wedge between Beijing and Moscow. Ready to relay the language of Russian propaganda, some enthusiasts were already explaining that the meeting between...
The Karabakh war: how Russia’s Image has Deteriorated in Both Armenia and Azerbaijan
There is no evidence that an economically weakened Russia has stopped viewing unresolved conflicts as a tool for keeping control on what it considers its sphere of influence. The result of the 2020 Karabakh war for Russia could be summed up this way: Russia facilitated an end to the...