Articles
Cooperation with Africa on the Current Chinese Agenda
On November 16, 2021, Li Keqiang, the Premier of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), attended the 4th Forum on China-Africa Local Government Cooperation. The meeting is another stage of preparation before the larger FOCAC summit. What is more, the Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce presented the latest data on trade.
Quantum Race
Quantum computers employ the unique properties of atoms and photons to solve computational problems considerably faster than ordinary computers. On the one hand, their availability will enable breakthroughs in many disciplines, from medicine to space exploration or artificial intelligence. On the other hand, their ubiquity will certainly pose challenges to the economy and national security.
Macron, Putin Discuss Belarus Border Tensions
Russia and France have increased contacts between their top officials. It is not only about a phone conversation between the presidents, but also a two-plus-two meeting in Paris, where French and Russian defense and foreign ministers met.
CCP’s Sixth Plenary Session. Xi forever?
On Monday, November 8, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CCCPC) commenced its sixth plenum in Beijing. During the meeting, which ended on Thursday, about 300 members of the Party, led by Xi Jinping, adopted a resolution which glorifies the Party’s achievements over the past century, especially those under Xi’s leadership.
Telephones and Rockets. A new ‘Normandy format’?
Russian diplomacy has successfully dragged Germany and France into talks on the situation on the Belarusian border. Migratory pressure was more and more doomed to failure with each passing day in the face of effective defence of Poland’s borders, so the Kremlin is being helped — not for the first time — by Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron.
USA, Germany, China and the Ukrainian Cause
Joe Biden’s presidential election victory raised high hopes among pro-state Ukrainian elites. The supposedly pro-Russian Trump was to be succeeded by an experienced politician well acquainted with the problems of Eastern Europe, having great sensitivity to human rights and human injustice.
Lukashenko Bluffing On EU Gas Threat
Floated by the Belarusian dictator, the possibility to halt gas transit into Poland and Germany amid fresh EU sanctions is part of the game Minsk and Moscow are playing against a background of the EU-Belarus border crisis. Contrary to what the Kremlin claims, it is hard to believe that Alexander Lukashenko would threaten to retaliate against any new European Union sanctions by shutting down the transit of natural gas via Belarus without the Kremlin’s knowledge. It is all the more so that a new component of Lukashenko’s aggressive policy towards the EU may fit into the Russian gas strategy.
Wang Yi Visits Four European Countries
On October 27-29, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Wang Yi, visited four European countries: Italy, Greece, Albania and Serbia . His visit to the Old Continent was preceded by a meeting with representatives of the Taliban government in Qatar.
Post-COVID-19 Economic Complications
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic left a huge mark on the world’s economies. It seems that since then, the situation has settled down. Since the second half of last year, the world has been trying to return to normalcy. It turns out, however, that in many respects, it will not be the same as before for a long time to come.
Gazprom Plays For Time, EU Has Modest Gas Stocks
It was only on November 9 that Russian energy giant Gazprom started refilling European gas-storage facilities. Nonetheless, the company so far has pumped very small amounts of gas into its European storage facilities that remain mostly empty. As Russian gas is a major part of the EU’s total storage capacity, inventories in Europe are facing a tough situation while entering the winter heating season.
Counterterrorism Strategies In Poland and France
Terrorism is now constantly present worldwide. France is seeing a continuing terrorist threat, which makes it most vulnerable to an act of terror of all European Union nations.
Maghreb. Escalating Algerian-Moroccan Tensions
On August 24, 2021, Algeria has severed diplomatic relations with Morocco, accusing it of continued hostile actions. A month earlier, the Algerian Foreign Ministry recalled its ambassador to Morocco and announced that it may take further steps in retaliation for unfavorable comments made by Morocco’s envoy to the United Nations, Omar Hilal, who dragged the Kabylia region into the decades-old dispute over Western Sahara.
Kremlin vs. Kiev’s Emancipatory Aspirations
Although Russian politicians accepted the collapse of the USSR, already in the 1990s they did not treat Ukraine as a permanent entity, but as a temporary creation devoid of history and nation, forcibly separated from Russia by the hostile imperialist forces of the “Collective West”.
Crisis on the Border Between Belarus and the EU. Russia Enters the Game
From the beginning, the Russian Federation has supported, and perhaps even inspired, Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s hybrid war against neighbouring EU and NATO countries. It has achieved its first goal, namely the escalation of migrant attacks directed by Belarusian services primarily at the border of Poland.
