The Hype, Delusions and Risks of the Arctic Geopolitics

Posted by & filed under Regions and Powers, Security

The surge of political attention to the Arctic may appear counter-intuitive to the experts overtaxed with assessing the consequences of the global trade war, perplexed by the deadlock of the Ukraine War, and frustrated by the deepening indifference to the Gaza war.

Nuclear icebreaker in the Arctic. Photo: Sepp Friedhuber / Getty Images

No notable power shifts are indeed registered in the High North, but it happens to be the region where President Donald Trump’s ambitions for grandeur meet President Vladimir Putin’s aspirations to assert Russia’s position of power – and exacerbate European worries about US disengagement from the collective security arrangements.Read More

Putin Weighs Risks of U.S. Readiness to Move on From Stalled Peace Efforts in Ukraine

Posted by & filed under Peacebuilding, Ukraine War

The Kremlin has used delays and distractions to gain all the time and concessions available to it before seriously engaging in peace talks, or at least a genuine pause, in its war against Ukraine.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio alongside U.S. President Donald Trump in April 2025. Photo: Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images

Russian President Vladimir Putin will soon be compelled to admit that procrastination works fine until it does not. Putin cannot fail to recognize the essential final warning by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio about readiness to move on to other priorities if the efforts at making a peace deal remain deadlocked (Forbes.ru, April 18).

U.S. President Donald Trump has confirmed that the United States will abandon efforts to make a peace deal without setting a specific deadline (Kommersant, April 18).Read More

Global Trade Wars: All Against All — But Where is Africa?

Posted by and & filed under Regions and Powers

The trade war, unilaterally launched by Donald Trump on April 1, 2025, will go down in global history as a hostile act against globalization and international rules — rules that were once defended by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United States themselves. This act also marks one of the first official signs of the collapse of the post-war world order.

“Make America Wealthy Again” trade announcement at the White House on April 2, 2025. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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The Transatlantic Rift in the Global Disorder of Trumpism

Posted by and & filed under Regions and Powers

The advent of COVID-19 and the global lockdown of 2020 allowed us to write an article in which we highlighted that the post-COVID world would remain unknown and uncertain[1]. One thing is certain: we are currently experiencing a transitional phase between the world order established after 1945 and a new, yet undefined global order. This transitional process is always characterized by disorder and chaos, as order emerges from crisis.

Illustration: Getty Images

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Putin’s Warpath Goes Through Arctic

Posted by & filed under Security, Ukraine War

Russia’s war against Ukraine is stuck in a rigid deadlock. The prospect of agreeing on a ceasefire, which had appeared within reach a couple of weeks ago, has, however, become distant and blurred.

Russian President Vladimir Putin at the polar camp at Alexandra Land Island, Franz Joseph Land in Acrtic Russia in 2017. Photo: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images

Russian President Vladimir Putin is not procrastinating or bargaining, he deliberately persists with unfeasible conditions while accepting concessions as a matter of routine (Re: Russia, March 27).Read More

How Should Europe Respond to the Demonstrations in Turkey?

Posted by & filed under Governance, Regions and Powers

All across Turkey, a battle is being waged over the country’s future. For more than a decade, the country’s democratic institutions have steadily deteriorated and now thousands have taken to the streets in an attempt to save the remains of its democracy and restore the rule of law.

Protestors in Istanbul during a protest in support of arrested Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on March 25, 2025. Photo: Mehmet Kacmaz/Getty Images

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There’s a Path Forward for Turkey-Greece Cooperation — but It Requires a Dose of Realism

Posted by & filed under Regions and Powers, Security

In the Eastern Mediterranean, tensions are largely the norm rather than the exception. Greece and Turkey, two stable states and NATO allies, enjoy largely peaceful unneighborly relations, despite occasional tension between them. Bilateral disputes, especially those regarding the delimitation of maritime zones, are longstanding and well-known.

Turkish and Greek Foreign Ministers Hakan Fidan and Giorgos Gerapetritis after a meeting in November 2024. Photo: Murat Gok/Anadolu via Getty Images

But the two countries still seem trapped in regional and bilateral geopolitical dilemmas, some of which have little resonance today.Read More