Loading
Description: Colombian military and holdouts from the FARC guerilla group have clashed in the Catatumbo region leaving one police officer dead and several wounded. The military was conducting the so – called stabilization operations on behalf of the Colombian government when they were engaged by dissidents from the holdouts of FARC. The trilateral conflict also involves the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group which fights over regional prevalence of the key region for the production and transportation of cocaine. The conflict so far has caused the migration of more than 50,000 people and left up to 100 dead. Impact: The Colombian government has appare
Description: UK officials have blamed Russia for planning to interfere in the upcoming elections in the Central African Republic. US officials have also added that Russia was trying to tap into the country’s gold and mineral reserves as its one of the first that the Kremlin – backed Wagner group established its presence in. Russian foreign official Anna Evstigneeva has denounced the accusations laid out by the US and UK officials in the UN. The Central African Republic has been plagued by violence since 2013 when up to 14 armed Muslim – backed rebel groups overthrew then – sitting President Francois Bozize. The country has recently experienced shortened periods of relative s
Description: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Qatar’s Emir Amir Al Thani have signed a strategic partnership agreement which will see both countries collaborate on several aspects. Qatar has announced an investment of up to $10 billion which will cover sectors such as hospitality, food security, technology, logistics and trade. The countries would also enhance security and intelligence cooperation to counter regional terrorist and extremist organizations. The agreement highlighted India’s repolarization towards countries in the Gulf region and strengthening ties with US allied forces. Impact: Qatar and India’s strategic partnership contributes towards
Description: The Polish presidentship of the European Union has announced the decisions of the EU ambassadors to impose the 16th sanctions package on Russia. Sanctions would be additionally imposed on 73 ships of Russia’s shadow fleet used to transport goods such as LNG or LPG from sanctioned Russian companies as well as other legal entities and individuals. The sanctions package would also undertake the exclusion of 13 Russian banks from the SWIFT system while up to 8 Russian media outlets and 11 ports would also be added to the sanctioned list. The package comes on the brink of the three-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine and in line with recent rifts in pol
Description: The Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown has signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Chinese government that would see the islands cooperate with China on trade, tourism, education, seabed mining, infrastructure, fisheries and disaster management. The agreement has raised concerns with the islands closest ally New Zealand as recent ambitions show political will from the Cook Islands for secession. Protests were held in the capital Avarua opposing the China deal and requesting to remain in a free association bilateral relation with New Zealand. The agreement comes to light in a sensitive time especially with China enlarging its presence and expanding
Description: Director General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) Mike Burgess presented the annual national threat report which focused on cyber-attacks, radicalization, sabotage and enhanced espionage attempts. Mark stated that Australia has been considerably targeted by opposing state – backed organizations through continuous cyber-attacks which targeted crucial infrastructure and used social media platforms to radicalize the Australian youth. Mark also mentioned that the AUKUS program, which is a strategic alliance between Australia, the UK and the US has been severely targeted especially with regional tensions on a historic high. Impact:
Description: US President Donald Trump’s executive order designating drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) has come into effect. The designation was published through the US Department of State and named six larger Mexican drug cartels as FTOs. This would enable US authorities to subject the cartels under sanctions and persecute organizations or individuals that harbor material support for the cartels. Recent tensions between the US and Mexico saw Donald Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum trade blame over the fentanyl trade across the US – Mexico border. Impact: The listing of cartels as FTOs has raised several concerns, mainly th
Description: US special envoy Keith Kellog arrived on Wednesday 19 Feb in Kyiv amid extending talks with Ukraine’s President Volodymir Zelenskyy. The meeting comes after the US – Russia talks in Riyadh which excluded Ukrainian and EU representatives. US President Donald Trump has illegitimized Zelenskyy in the meantime calling him a dictator which doesn’t enjoy the support of the Ukrainian people. Trump also stated that the war could have been prevented and accused Ukraine of instigating the conflict. The arrival of Kellog is yet to become clear as it could mean the reinforcement of Trump’s isolationism in future negotiations, or it could also mean to provide reassurances to
Description: Syrian de – facto rulers, Haiat Tahrir Al – Sham led by Ahmed al – Sharaa has allegedly closed upon concluding an agreement with Russia for its military forces to remain in the country. Russian forces would aim at remaining in their naval base in Tartus and keep the remainder of the forces in the Hmeimim air base near Latakia. Previous contacts between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ahmed al – Sharaa were made upon which concessions were agreed upon. In the interim, Israel has increased its military presence in the southeastern parts of the country and imposed control of over 30% of the country’s water supply. US and Turkish troops are also located in the
Description: The meeting between US State Secretary Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ended on a positive note with winds of cooperation blowing from both the East and the West. With Ukraine being on the top of the agenda, both sides have stated they have laid the groundwork for a potential direct meeting between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in the near future. European countries and Ukraine have deemed the meeting illegitimate since all concerned parties weren’t present, however, US and Russian representatives have stated that they merely discussed diplomatic broad strokes so far. Information regarding future concessions was scarce but bot