Articles in English

Damaged military vehicles lie on the side of the road north of Mekele, the capital of Tigray on February 26, 2021. (Photo by EDUARDO SOTERAS/AFP via Getty Images)

MundoÁfrica, ,

The threat of war is looming over the Horn of Africa once again, with observers warning of a return to fighting in Tigray, which could also lead to conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Ethiopia’s ambition to secure access to the Red Sea via ports it lost to Eritrea in the 1990s, alongside Eritrea’s continued interference in Ethiopia’s internal affairs, have led to a dramatic deterioration of the relationship between the countries over the past two years. The mobilization of troops along both sides of their shared border highlights the seriousness of the situation.

With the rules-based international order under significant strain, Ethiopia – the world’s most populous landlocked country, with over 120 million people but no coastline – may consider this an opportune moment to be more assertive in its efforts to break out of its ‘geographical prison’.…  Seguir leyendo »

Yemenis brandish rifles during a demonstration called for by the rebel Houthi movement in Sanaa on March 17, 2025. (Photo by MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP via Getty Images)

MundoOriente Próximo,

US strikes against the Houthis in Yemen on 15 March were the heaviest since joint US/UK air operations began in January 2024. They were also the first under the new administration of President Donald Trump. Sending a clear message to Tehran, the president said afterwards that ‘every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon…as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of Iran’.

The attacks, and Trump’s explicit association of the Houthis with Iran, were not surprising. One of the most important consequences of the wars that followed the 7 October 2023 attacks has been the heightened importance of the Houthis within the Iran-led Axis of Resistance.…  Seguir leyendo »

A protest in New York City. Photo: Getty Images via AFP

MundoAmérica

The 1960s and 1970s saw a significant shift in the academic landscape, particularly in the humanities and social sciences. This period marked the emergence of a counter-western narrative, where third-world literatures gained prominence, and the master narratives of the West were challenged. As a result, the idea of independence, rewriting histories, and promoting democracy and freedom became increasingly important, as is evident in the student uprisings in the volatile 1960s. Students sought freedom in the classroom and university, leading to massive demonstrations against the establishment as well as against the Vietnam War. Aimé Césaire’s Discourse on Colonialism, Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth, and Edward Said’s Orientalism became the seminal works introduced in the humanities curriculum.…  Seguir leyendo »

President Donald Trump with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Group of 20 Summit in Hamburg in July 2017. (Evan Vucci/AP)

MundoAméricaEuropa, , , ,

President Donald Trump appears far more eager for a peace deal in Ukraine than does Russian President Vladimir Putin. That’s the obvious takeaway from Tuesday’s two-hour call between the two leaders.

Trump comes across as an avid suitor in his brief, upbeat readout of the conversation, describing the talks as “very good and productive”. Putin is more guarded in the longer Kremlin version, friendly but unyielding on his basic demands. He agreed to a 30-day pause in “attacks on energy infrastructure facilities”. Ukraine had endorsed Trump’s proposal for a ceasefire on all fronts for that period.

This wasn’t a telephonic version of Yalta, in short, despite the ballyhoo that preceded the call.…  Seguir leyendo »

Palestinians seek safety in the wake of Israeli attacks, breaking the ceasefire, in Beit Hanoun, in the Gaza Strip, 18 March. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

MundoOriente Próximo

In less than 24 hours, heavy Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip has killed more than 4oo Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities, marking the end of a ceasefire that was announced in name only between Hamas and Israel on 15 January and took effect four days later. Even after months of negotiations led by the US, Qatar and Egypt, those observing Palestinian-Israeli affairs knew the ceasefire never really meant Israel ceased its fire on the besieged coastal territory.

Between 22 January and 11 March, at least 700 Palestinians were either killed by the Israeli military or their bodies were retrieved from areas medics could not previously access, according to ministry of health in Gaza as reported by United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.…  Seguir leyendo »

Mark Carney arrives in Paris, ahead of a visit to the UK, 17 March 2025. Photograph: Canadian Press/REX/Shutterstock

MundoAmérica

David Lammy thought he was reassuring Canadians. During his visit to Canada – for a meeting of G7 foreign ministers– he was asked about Donald Trump’s claims that the country should become the 51st state of the US. The UK foreign secretary stressed that Canada is a “proud [and] sovereign nation”, and – in his view – would remain so. When pressed further, he invoked Canada’s shared history and monarch with the UK, and our work together during the second world war.

Canadians are already well aware of that shared history, and how Britain has long benefited from its Commonwealth. My 96-year-old father just missed the age of enlistment in support of Britain in the 1940s but his two brothers, young boys from the Canadian prairies, lost their lives as RAF bombers.…  Seguir leyendo »

Yemenis brandish rifles and chant during a demonstration called for by the rebel Houthi movement in Sanaa on March 17. (Photo by Mohammed HUWAIS / AFP) Mohammed HUWAIS / AFP

MundoOriente Próximo,

The Trump administration’s airstrikes on Yemen over the weekend marked the first time the United States has explicitly targeted Houthi leaders—alongside military and command-and-control centers. These strikes were warranted and then some. But the hard part may still be ahead.

The rap sheet against the Houthis is unchallenged. Following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack by Hamas against Israel, the Houthis declared that they would shut down shipping through the Red Sea to protest Israel’s operation in Gaza. Houthi terrorists targeted many Western maritime vessels that they claimed had Israeli ties transiting the Bab el-Mandeb Strait (often exempting Russian and Chinese shippers), forcing shipping companies to bypass the Suez Canal and sail around the Cape of Good Hope, adding significant costs to each journey.…  Seguir leyendo »

Putin Won’t End the War. He Can’t Afford To.

Europa, , ,

There is, at last, a breakthrough in efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

After weeks of tortuous recriminations and reprisals, encapsulated by that notorious scene in the Oval Office, the United States and Ukraine last week agreed on a 30-day cease-fire. Military assistance and intelligence sharing, once paused, have resumed. Since President Trump took office, the saga of the war has played out almost entirely between America and Ukraine, with Russia somewhere in the background. Now all eyes are on Moscow.

People hoping for peace are likely to be disappointed. Despite President Vladimir Putin of Russia signaling readiness for a deal, nothing could be further from the truth.…  Seguir leyendo »

A woman carries a bunch of dried reeds while walking through the Tiamushro camp for internally displaced people in Kadugli, Sudan, on June 18, 2024. Guy Peterson/AFP via Getty Images

MundoÁfrica, ,

On March 6, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) announced that Sudan had filed proceedings against the United Arab Emirates, accusing it of complicity in genocide. Sudan alleges the UAE’s sustained support for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group that has waged a brutal power struggle against the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) since April 2023, amounts to abetting a war crime.

The case also cites the RSF’s documented atrocities against the Masalit group. Between May and June 2023, up to 15,000 Masalit civilians in West Darfur were massacred and at least 500,000 were displaced into Chad—echoing the early 2000s Darfur conflict, when the Janjaweed militias, RSF’s predecessors, committed similar crimes for President Omar al-Bashir’s Islamist regime.…  Seguir leyendo »

NATO troops taking part in a military exercise near Galati, Romania, February 2025 Eduard Vinatoru / Reuters

MundoAméricaEuropaUnión EuropeaPolítica Exterior,

The transatlantic alliance has weathered many crises over the past 80 years, some of which seemed existential at the time. But the one now roiling the alliance feels different and much more treacherous. Unlike previous episodes of transatlantic discord, which mostly revolved around how the alliance should respond to an external threat of one kind or another, the challenge today comes from within. European leaders are asking themselves whether the United States—the alliance’s founder and steadfast champion for eight decades—is still committed to the security of Europe and the West more generally. Recent statements by U.S. President Donald Trump and his senior advisers suggest that the answer is no.…  Seguir leyendo »

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu, and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi in Beijing, March 2025 Lintao Zhang / Reuters

MundoAsiaEuropaInternacionalOrden MundialMundoOriente Próximo, , ,

Even regional wars have geopolitical consequences, and when it comes to Russia’s war on Ukraine, the most important of these has been the formation of a loose entente among China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia. Some U.S. national security experts have taken to calling this group “the axis of upheaval” or “the axis of autocracy”, warning that the United States must center this entente in its foreign policy and focus on containing or defeating it. It is not only Washington policymakers who worry about a new, well-coordinated anti-American bloc: in a November 2024 U.S. public opinion poll by the Ronald Reagan Institute, 86 percent of respondents agreed that they were either “extremely” or “somewhat” concerned by the increased cooperation between these U.S.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica,

Visitting The Oval Office on March 12th, Micheal Martin, Ireland’s prime minister, was not about to risk the kind of mauling inflicted there a couple of weeks earlier by Donald Trump and his vice-president, J. D. Vance, on Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president. Rather than publicly challenging Mr Trump’s broadsides against the European Union or questioning his plan to seize Gaza and expel its Palestinian inhabitants, Mr Martin ducked or fawned. There couldn’t have been much more substance in their private meeting, which lasted just ten minutes.

It is hard to think of a time when there was a wider gulf between what Western officials really think about the American president and his policies and what they are willing to say.…  Seguir leyendo »

Earth and minerals are loaded onto trucks at an open-pit mine near the frontline in the Donetsk Region, Ukraine. (Photo by Pierre Crom/Getty Images)

Europa, , , ,

As Washington pushes for a ceasefire in Ukraine, Kyiv is also under pressure to sign a minerals deal that would grant the US access to its valuable raw materials.

The European Commission, in fear of losing out in the race to secure Ukraine’s rare earths, has made Kyiv a rival offer: a ‘win-win partnership’ to develop its minerals, building on existing cooperation and positioned as ‘mutually beneficial’ in contrast to Washington’s focus on extracting wealth as payment for its war support.

But rather than competing for access to Ukraine’s minerals, the US and the EU should pursue a joint US-EU-Ukraine minerals partnership.…  Seguir leyendo »

A man reads a Vietnamese newspaper with a front page story on the inauguration of US president Donald Trump, in Hanoi on January 21, 2025.(Photo by NHAC NGUYEN/AFP via Getty Images)

MundoAsia

Most European governments believe that the US president Donald Trump is dangerous because he is overturning Washington’s approach to the world by trashing alliances, undermining liberal democracy and abandoning the rules-based order.

In Southeast Asia, by contrast, many officials believe that Trump is simply reinforcing their worst pre-existing suspicions about America. From economic coercion to threatening sovereignty violations and disregarding international agreements and organizations, the US has previous form in their region and beyond. Trump, as they see it, is simply a more disruptive and shameless version of those who came before him in the White House.

Among regional friends and sceptics of the US alike, there is nonetheless great nervousness about how the Trump administration will approach Southeast Asia, especially as it is a key crucible for US–China rivalry and home to several countries with sizeable US trade deficits.…  Seguir leyendo »

People waving flags during the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Tehran, February 2025 Majid Asgaripour / West Asia News Agency / Reuters

MundoOriente Próximo

Over the past year, Iran has grappled with a series of setbacks. Hamas and Hezbollah, Tehran’s long-standing nonstate regional allies, have been weakened by Israel. President Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria collapsed suddenly and spectacularly. The return of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency, meanwhile, signals a revival of the “maximum pressure” policies that hobbled the Iranian economy starting in 2018. These looming challenges have led many U.S. officials and analysts to argue that the Islamic Republic is facing a strategic defeat. Richard Haass, writing in Foreign Affairs in January, suggested that “Iran is weaker and more vulnerable than it has been in decades, likely since its decadelong war with Iraq or even since the 1979 revolution”.…  Seguir leyendo »

Members of the Ukrainian armed forces in Kharkiv, Ukraine, March 2025 Oleksandr Klymenko / Reuters

EuropaUnión Europea, , ,

The United States’ sudden, although ultimately temporary, suspension of all security assistance to Ukraine in early March raised alarms about Ukraine’s ability to defend itself. A lasting suspension of the aid would certainly have changed the course of the war. But even a complete stop to U.S. assistance would not have reversed the progress that Ukrainians have made over the past three years. With its existing stocks and production, Ukraine would be able to sustain its defense for months on its own. Although U.S. aid is again flowing, at least for now, Ukraine does not need to surrender if Washington slows or pauses its support again.…  Seguir leyendo »

An Israeli flag near a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Washington on 29 April 2024 in Seattle. Photograph: Lindsey Wasson/AP

MundoAmérica,

On 7 March, the Trump administration announced that it had cancelled $400m in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University, saying the school’s “Jewish students have faced relentless violence, intimidation, and antisemitic harassment on their campuses” and that “universities must comply with all federal anti-discrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding”.

The “harassment” leveraged by the president and other pro-Israel ideologues was a reference to the paradigm-setting pro-Palestinian activism that energized the campus over the past year. Columbia’s students became national leaders in the anti-genocide movement, and the Gaza solidarity encampment they established garnered international attention – including from the US Congress, which held hearings on so-called “campus antisemitism”.…  Seguir leyendo »

Students and anti-government protesters march to Belgrade for a joint protest, 14 March 2025. Photograph: Armin Durgut/AP

Europa,

From the streets of Belgrade, the cracks in President Aleksandar Vučić’s near-decade-long authoritarian grip on power have become impossible to ignore. After more than four months of largely peaceful student-led protests, frustration with the regime appears to have reached breaking point.

The country is gearing up for a massive anti-government protest today, as thousands of students and citizens prepare to rally against the Serbian administration. Many residents describe the capital as feeling “under siege”, with the authorities implementing extreme measures that critics argue are designed to intimidate and prevent people from attending the demonstration.

The state railway company, Srbijavoz, abruptly suspended all inter-city train services, citing anonymous bomb threats as the official reason.…  Seguir leyendo »

Police from forensic and Explosive Ordnance Disposal units inspect the scene at the Sungai Kolok district office on Sunday after an attack by insurgents. (Photo: Narathiwat Public Relations Office) Please credit and share this article with others using this link: https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2978133/time-for-thai-govt-brn-to-talk. View our policies at http://goo.gl/9HgTd and http://goo.gl/ou6Ip. © Bangkok Post PCL. All rights reserved.

MundoAsia, ,

Dialogue between the Thai government and Malay separatists marked its 12-year anniversary on Feb 28, but violence in the southernmost provinces remains an open wound on the Thai body politic. A dreadful routine of bombings, shootings and clashes in these provinces has killed some 7,680 people since 2004, yet the simmering violence goes largely unnoticed outside the region.

The peace dialogue, facilitated by Malaysia, seeks to end the insurgency by Barisan Revolusi Nasional Melayu Patani (BRN), or what it calls an anti-colonial struggle against the Thai state. The dialogue has come to a standstill under the current government. Recent moves by each side to explore a reduction in violence during the holy month of Ramadan offered some hope that dialogue might soon resume, but fresh militant attacks are a reminder that a cessation of hostilities is more often an effect of peace talks than a precondition.…  Seguir leyendo »

What Zelensky Does Next

Europa, , ,

My most vivid memory of Volodymyr Zelensky’s campaign for president of Ukraine was his debate with President Petro Poroshenko in April 2019. Mr. Poroshenko, a tycoon who made his fortune in chocolate, talked patriotically about the army, language and faith. Mr. Zelensky, a hugely popular comedian and actor who played a fictional president on TV, shot back that he was an outsider ready to break the system. His gruff energy and charisma easily outshined Mr. Poroshenko. Days later, the presidency was his.

One wonders if he’s ever wished he could just give it back.

Different sides of the war in Ukraine reach for different, simple narratives about Mr.…  Seguir leyendo »