Author: Jose Niño
On May 7, 2023, foreign ministers from Arab League member nations voted to bring back Syria into the regional organization at the League’s headquarters in Cairo. Such a move comes after the Levantine country was expelled from the League in 2011 as the Syrian Civil War broke out. This move was made before the Arab League Summit slated to be held in Saudi Arabia on May 19. Thus far, Arab states have been normalizing relations with Syria left and right. Syria was booted from the Arab League after President Bashar al-Assad clamped down on protestors in March 2011 which sparked…
On May 7, 2023, Chile witnessed the right-wing Republican party make impressive gains in an election to set up a new constitutional assembly with the task of drafting a new constitution. In this election, the Republican Party was victorious in 22 out of 51 seats. Other right-wing parties picked up an additional 11 seats. This is an election that will be a part of the constitutional assembly that is tasked with creating a new constitution to replace the one the military government of General Augusto Pinochet established. The previous assembly drafted a new constitution that voters rejected in a referendum…
On April 27, 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Russia’s growing rapprochement with Turkey on economic and energy matters. Putin made these comments at a virtual ceremony alongside Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan where they celebrated the launch of Turkey’s first nuclear power plant. Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear energy company, was the entity responsible for constructing the Akkuyu nuclear power plant located in Turkey’s southern Mersin province. “This is a flagship project,” Putin declared at the virtual conference. “It brings both mutual economic benefits and, of course, helps to strengthen the multi-faceted partnership between our two states.” Putin proclaimed that Akkuyu…
While everyone’s attention is still focused on Russia’s military operations in Ukraine or the potential clash between China and the United States over Taiwan, the crisis at the US’s southern border with Mexico has largely fallen by the wayside. The situation at the southern border is dire to say the least. Since President Joe Biden was installed in office in 2021, 5.5 million illegal aliens have crossed the US’s southern border with Mexico. Tensions have further boiled after 4 African Americans were caught in a cartel shooting in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas in early March. The incident resulted in…
Geopolitics is a field rife with geopolitical intrigue and the most unlikely of partnerships. After toppling its imperial predecessor in 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran is among the most polarizing of international actors on the world stage. Despite being isolated by the Collective West, Iran has been able to forge ahead with its unique brand of foreign policy that has relied on building proxy forces across the Middle East — Iraq, Lebanon, & Syria — while also strengthening ties with countries in the Global South. One of the lesser discussed aspects of Iranian foreign policy has been its outreach…
On April 5, 2023, leaders from Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, Mexico, Venezuela, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines met virtually to discuss measures that could potentially contain inflation in the region. According to Mexico’s presidential office, other topics such as improving the conditions for trade were also discussed. This virtual summit is the precursor for an in-person summit that is set to take place on May 6-7. However, one of the most shocking developments that came from this summit was the comments Argentine President Alberto Fernández made about a potential plan to ditch the dollar. A…
Following the indictment of former President Donald Trump on March 30, 2023 by a Manhattan grand jury, president of El Salvador Nayib Bukele had choice words for this decision. Bukele took to Twitter to speak his mind about this development. He tweeted: https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1641581661081968643 The Salvadoran president added: https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1641606772560412676 Trump’s indictment was centered on payments he made in his first presidential run in 2016 to muzzle allegations of an extramarital sexual encounter he had with porn star Stormy Daniels. This recent development has rekindled discussions about the United States’ institutional stability in the long-term as otherwise partial government bodies have become…
Right-wingers in the United States were likely taken aback by two Israeli lawmakers’ recent introduction of legislation that would criminalize the dissemination of the Gospel of Jesus. Israeli Knesset members Moshe Gani and Yaakov Asher introduced a bill that would ban the evangelization of Christianity within Israel. Gani and Asher belong to the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party, which is a political alliance of Haredi (ultra-orthodox) parties. While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on March 22, 2023 that his government will not adopt such legislation, questions remain about how Israeli politics will pan out in the decades to come. Netanyahu’s…
Forget Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, recent news of China’s facilitation of the normalization of diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia could be the geopolitical earthquake of the 2020s. On March 10, 2023, Saudi Arabia and Iran announced their agreement to restore diplomatic ties. This development comes after years of geopolitical tensions between the two Islamic powers in the Middle East. China was the host of the talks that led to this diplomatic development, which could be the first step in ending decades of conflict between the two regional powers. Iran and Saudi Arabia have been engaged in a de…
According to officials and experts, Lloyd Austin’s visit to Iraq revolves around pushing back Iranian influence in the country. On March 7, 2023, United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made a sudden visit to the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. At this visit, Austin stressed the US’s commitment to maintaining a military footprint in the Middle Eastern country. “US forces are ready to remain in Iraq at the invitation of the government of Iraq … The United States will continue to strengthen and broaden our partnership in support of Iraqi security, stability, and sovereignty,” Austin said to reporters after meeting with…