One of the original achievements of European integration was to create a Union of states characterized by the absence of conflicts both between the member states and with third-party states, which have shaped European history for many decades. Ever since its rise the Ottoman Empire has been one of these third-party actors. This makes it clear that the only …

On the 31st of May 2021, China announced its 3-child policy in an attempt to address the challenges associated with it ageing population. The decision comes weeks after the release of the latest census results which predicts a rapidly ageing population and decreasing population of economically active (The Economist, 2021). Indeed, last year, China’s births fell to their lowest in …

In recent weeks, major legal-political shifts have taken place in Afghanistan’s environment. The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan has now gone, with its security forces mostly abandoned, and the elected president Ashraf Ghani fled from the country. Now, following the US withdrawal, Taliban fighters dominate most of the country and have declared to restore the so-called “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” which …

The ambitious Three Seas Initiative known as 3SI has been structured as a regional effort in Europe to expand cross-border energy, transportation, digital infrastructure and to boost economic development among twelve EU Member States located between the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea and the Adriatic Sea: from North to South, encompassing Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, …

The most restrictive and radical abortion legislation seen in half a century in the US came into effect last week (1Sept.) in Texas after the US Supreme Court declined to intervene. The law, introduced as Senate Bill 8 or SB8, prohibits abortions when embryonic cardiac activity is detected which can occur at six weeks, before many know they have become …

The collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban’s military takeover jointly with the images of people at Kabul airport desperately trying to flee the country show the gravity of the problem that was mishandled by the international community including the EU. As evacuation efforts at Kabul International Airport wind down ahead of the Western troop withdrawal deadline of August …

August 23, 2021 marked the day of launching the International Crimean Platform which has been initiated by the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky  as an international response and moreover, foreign policy instrument against the occupation of Crimea by Russia. The summit was solely dedicated to the illegal annexation of Crimea and to bringing the issue back in the agenda of the …

Although the situation in Afghanistan still captures most media attention, the ramifications of the US and NATO withdrawal for the wider neighborhood have only been considered insufficiently. Pakistan may well be the largest winner for now. And when Pakistan is involved in any larger development, attention should be paid to how its most prominent rival, India, reacts. Since Pakistan’s independence …

As Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan (2021) wrote in a recent Washington Post editorial his country has suffered more than any other one in the name of the war on terrorism in Afghanistan, and hence, would be more interested than any other actor to see a stable government in Kabul. He is not shy about whom Islamabad will collaborate with: …

Thailand has been in mass antigovernment protests and rallies in a decade, largely caused by the combination of democratic deterioration and frustrations over the role of the monarchy. The recent protests kicked off in August 2020 as Thai people took the streets and started to vividly criticize the institution of the monarchy and King Maha Vajiralongkorn, demanding reduced royal powers (BBC, …