Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin in Geneva: Here’s why Switzerland is the ideal host for diplomacy

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Micol Lucchi, Lead, Swiss Public Affairs, World Economic Forum and Samuel Werthmuller, Communications Officer, Europe, World Economic Forum US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet in Geneva, Switzerland, on 16 June. ‘International Geneva’ has […]

European elections: A chance to repel both nationalism and no-deal Brexit

The results of the coming European Parliament elections of 23-26 May will have an unusually strong and long term impact on the wider political developments of the entire Old continent. There are two good reasons for that. The Europeans, including the Brits, will vote to definitely or not repel nationalism and a devastating no-deal Brexit. […]

2019: An unpredictable, confrontational and financially ominous year

The global outlook for 2019 was already looking unpredictable and dangerously confrontational, but the firing of US Defense Secretary, the moderate retired general Jim Mattis makes it exponentially more so. During the past few months ‘America first’ President Donald Trump has dismissed all the top three reasonable American policy makers. First it was the State Department […]

Ukraine’s Poroshenko implicates NATO in his duel with Putin

Ukraine, once the breadbasket of central Europe and now the miserable wartorn offspring of the breakup of the ex USSR, keeps confirming her reputation for being a deeply divided country and society. The current governing oligarchy under President Petro Poroshenko supported by the West, having succeeded under obscure conditions the Moscow controlled administration of Viktor […]

The Europeans back Russia-Turkey on Syria: A ‘Waterloo’ for Saudis and their Crown Prince

France and Germany have put their weight behind the Russia–Turkey agreement for a lasting ceasefire in Syria. The four leaders also said they agreed to put together a committee to draft a constitution for the political rehabilitation of the devastated country. Last Saturday, the French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Russian […]

Strong multilateral institutions key to tackling world’s dramatic challenges, UN chief says In Moscow

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. In Moscow on Thursday, Secretary-General António Guterres said multilateralism was vital to tackling climate change, terrorism and other dramatic challenges, and that the United Nations and Russia would continue working together to make global institutions stronger and better able to serve the public good. […]

Macron in St. Petersburg didn’t oppose Trump on Iran, in Putin’s presence

Emmanuel Macron, the French President, who has regained the European political initiative for his country, traveled to St. Petersburg, in Russia last Thursday. This was not an official state visit though. Macron just decided to participate in St. Petersburg’s annual International Economic Forum (SPIEF). A high end business delegation accompanied him. Macron met Putin only […]

Is Germany closer to Russia than the West? Nord Stream II and Iran count more

Last Friday, Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, rushed to Sochi, the Black Sea seaside Russian resort to meet Vladimir Putin. It was the first visit by a Western leader to meet him at home, after his fourth inauguration on 7 May as President of the vast country, this time for six more years. Looking through […]

The West cannot ignore Russia; dazed Germany sitting on the fence

After the missile attacks by the Western trio of US, Britain and France against Damascus and other positions in war torn Syria, the Russian overlords and Assad regime in that part of the world, continues pursuing their agenda, as if nothing happened. From a certain angle truly nothing has changed regarding the military and political […]

A new catastrophic phase in the Syrian carnage

At a time when Donald Trump, the US President of ‘America first’ had just urged his military to leave Syria, the gas attack in Douma, near Damascus seems to change the prospect for Washington abandoning this country to Assad, Putin, Erdogan and the Iranians. Last Saturday, more than 60 people died and about 1000 were […]

Is the advent of nationalism to destroy economic neo-liberalism?

All major stock exchanges suffered severe losses on the first day of this week not because Tesla and facebook stocks are falling, or even because the Chinese announced on Sunday night their retaliative import tariffs of 15% to 25% on 128 US products; all that was known and probably discounted for during the past few […]

Putin becomes the ‘perfect enemy” for the West

Putin, after having won last Sunday’s presidential election in Russia with a landslide of 76.7% is now turning to the West for détente. According to Reuters, he said “had no desire for an arms race and would do everything he could to resolve differences with other countries”. Only a few days ahead of election Sunday […]

After Brexit and Grexit, Brussels to deal with Poloust

After Grexit and Brexit that have both been haunting the European Union for quite some time, and will continue doing so in the foreseeable future, Brussels seems obliged to ponder Poloust that is kicking Poland out. The country is steadily sliding to rightwing coercion, under the leadership of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, a rampant populist, authoritarian and […]

Trump’s Russian affair spills over and upsets Europe

The turmoil in the American political system, caused by President Donald Trump’s Russian affair is having spillovers in Europe. Of course, it’s not the first time that Trump and his out of control political ‘inspirations’ instigate trouble for the Old Continent and the rest of the world. This time however, the US Congress prepares new […]

Trump ‘used’ G20 to side with Putin and split climate and trade packs

While protesters were dynamically trying to reach the part of Hamburg where the G20 leaders of the largest economies of the world were gathered, the most powerful politicians of the globe were reduced to the status of viewers, in the Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin spectacle of rapprochement. Trump also ‘used’ the G20 to tell […]

Trump’s Syrian hit the softest option vis-a-vis Russia

All the major English language media interpreted last week’s US strike of the Syrian air base with Tomahawk missiles, as a serious geostrategic action by Donald Trump carrying messages not only to Russia, but also to North Korea and even China. Nothing is less true than that. This was the least the new US President […]

Trump’s Russophiles under investigation, Europe remains ‘en garde’

Last Friday U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the ongoing FBI probe of the case of the Russian interference in the US Presidential elections favoring Donald Trump. He said “I have recused myself in the matters that deal with the Trump campaign.” Last September, the US intelligence agencies collective, in a joint paper, […]

The four top Americans who flew to Europe perplexed things about Trump’s intentions

Four top ranking Washington bigwigs – who flew to Munich, Brussels and Bonn to mend fences with Europe, after Donald Trump termed NATO ‘obsolete’ and rejoiced the unraveling of the EU, left the Europeans bewildered with the dangerously diverging stories they had to narrate. Only the extreme right wing, Polish Defense Minister Anton Macierewicz seemed […]

Trump stumbles badly on his Russian openings; Europeans wary of Putin

In the fourth week of the Trump Presidency things have become more hectic. Those around the boss are now people of authority, and their actions directly affect America and the world. It’s not only that the chief himself changes his mind from one day to the next about crucial global issues, like the ‘one China’ […]

US, Russia oblige each other in Syria and Ukraine selling off allies

The US – Russia rapprochement, as having been set in motion by the new tenant of the White House, is to be tested first and foremost in Syria and Ukraine. Washington and Moscow support opposing sides in two catastrophic and bloody civil wars, which have claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and thrown millions of […]

Syria: A bloody tracer of Trump – Putin rapprochement

Despite the dreadful fact that the fighting and the bloodshed continues on many spots on the ground, the Astana agreement for a truce in Syria backed by Russia, Turkey and Iran seems to present a good chance for peace. Last Tuesday, the above three foreign powers and their proxies implicated in the Syrian civil war, […]

Draghi repels Trump’s threats, rejects Schauble’s dictums

Mario Draghi, the President of the European Central Bank, is under mounting pressures both at home and abroad. From the other side of the Atlantic US President Donald Trump is overtly targeting a much cheaper dollar compared to euro, while at his inaugural speech he clearly praised trade protectionism by saying, “Protection will lead to […]

A shortened EU Summit admits failures, makes risky promises

Last Thursday, 15 December, the cut down to one day European Summit, confirmed that Europe continues on the wrong path. The 27 + 1 leaders acknowledged the complete failure of key policies regarding Syria and Turkey and kept making promises to Ukraine and Georgia they cannot honor. Unfortunately, Brussels refuses to learn the lessons still […]

What will the US look like under Trump? Was his election campaign a big scam?

Everybody agrees now that the President – elect Donald Trump won the 8 November election, by promising he will take good care of the Americans who are left behind in the era of globalization and of the global financial rackets. The first signs though indicate the opposite. His choices for the top Washington jobs are […]

What the US and the world can expect from the 8 November election?

From Beijing and Tehran to Brussels and London, and further away to Mexico City and Caracas the night of 8 November will create a landmark in contemporary world history. The results of the US election and the new occupant of the White House in Washington D.C will certainly affect the way the world turns around. […]

Turkey to let EU alone struggle with the migrant crisis while enhancing its economic ties with Russia instead?

The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met the Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday in St. Petersburg to improve their relationships after the sanctions that Russia imposed on tourism and Turkish exports due to the deadly air fighter incident that took place last November, when Turkey took down a Russian fighter. Turkey’s approach towards a revival of a […]

The West castigates Turkey’s Erdogan for the ruthless political cleansing

Last week, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defied his western allies, who have called for restrain and the rule of law in the wide ranging purge of the country after the failed coup. With the basic human rights hindered, his ruthless cleansing of the military, the judiciary, the public administration, the education system and […]

The EU checks the multinationals for tax fraud but Britain may sail out of the EU via Panama

The Panama Papers did not offer to the world community much more news than most people already knew. For example, the ‘revelation’ that a close friend to the Russian President Vladimir Putin was enormously rich without having labored for his wealth, is no news at all. Every Russian or informed citizen in the entire world […]

Syria: Why did the US now take the Russian offer for a truce? What next?

The US-Russia plan for a “cessation of hostilities” in Syria, endorsed by the UN Security Council on Friday 26 February kicked off in the early hours of Saturday and two days after is still more or less observed. Understandably the cease-fire may collapse at any moment but the US and Russia seem determined to keep […]

Refugee crisis update: Commission still in panic while Turkey is to be added in the equation

It was only last Wednesday that Russia officially launched airstrikes in Syria which are supposed to target terrorist groups such as Islamic State (IS). The attacks however aim at western Syria where “strangely” IS has no activity. Consequently, while Russia is mitigating the war in Syria backing-up Assad and his government, refugees continue leaving massively the […]

Does Greece really weigh what is asking for today in Russia?

Today is the day that Alexis Tsipras meets Vladimir Putin in Moscow to discuss about business and trade under a spiritual Easter atmosphere for the “Orthodox brothers”. The date of this summit was strategically decided to be this week, in order to put some pressure, at least this is what the Greeks believe, to the European leaders-creditors who […]

EU cracks under the weight of its policy on the Ukraine-Russia nub

The Ukrainian civil war, with the two sides patronised respectively by the West (EU and US) and Russia, has now deeply divided the entire Old Continent. On Friday 26 September Hungary decided to cut off its secondary supplies of Russian natural gas to Ukraine. Last June, after Moscow cut its direct deliveries of gas to […]

Is continuous sanctioning the way to resolve the Ukrainian crisis?

The E.U. together with the U.S. decided to impose harsher economic sanctions against Russia last Wednesday. This action was expected since Russia continued to further scale its violent military intervention in eastern Ukraine despite the warnings that were given by the U.S. and E.U. U.S. sanctions focus on financial and energy sectors The U.S. are taking advantage of what is […]

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