Author: Jose Niño
Geopolitics is a world marked by the least likely of alliances. Strange bedfellows abound due to the eternal quest of states pursuing their national interest at all costs. One needn’t look further at Israel’s intimate relationship with Azerbaijan to see this dynamic at play. How could Israel, a Jewish democratic state, pact with the likes of Azerbaijan, a secular authoritarian republic of predominantly Shia Muslim confession? This alliance of convenience is forged by Israel’s desire to keep tabs on Iran — Israel’s primary geopolitical foe in the Middle East. A recent report by Israeli online newspaper Haaretz spilled the beans…
China occupied international headlines on February 24, 2023 by calling for a cease-fire and peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. This announcement came on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s “Special Military Operation”, a military incursion that has witnessed Russia make slow yet grinding gains in Eastern Ukraine. China has maintained a neutral stance on Russia’s military incursion in Ukraine. It has not only refused to criticize Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but it has bolstered relations with Russia, making several geopolitical commentators believe the two countries are on the verge of forging an alliance. While Ukrainian forces have taken heavy losses,…
Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene caused a stir on February 20, 2023, when she called for a national divorce — a proposal that would see the United States split up along roughly red and blue state lines. Greene tweeted: https://twitter.com/mtgreenee/status/1627665203398688768 Degrees of polarization have reached such alarming levels in the US that figures on both the Left and the Right have entertained the idea of some type of national dissolution. The secession question was settled decisively with the Union’s victory over the Confederacy during the Civil War (1861-1865). However, secession is a concept that is arguably as American as apple…
Could Iran and China be on the verge of downgrading their diplomatic relations? Despite Iran and China signing a 25-year cooperation agreement in 2021, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s December visit to Saudi Arabia caused a stir in Tehran. This visit was part of a broader outreach mission that China was conducting with Gulf Arab states, where issues of trade and national security were discussed. It’s no secret that Saudi Arabia and China have solid relations. Since 2020, Saudi Arabia has been China’s top crude oil supplier and the two countries enjoy a total of $87.3 billion in bilateral trade. What…
On February 4, 2023, former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett caused a stir by posting an interview on his YouTube channel where he claimed that the United States and its satrapies in Europe “blocked” his attempts to broker a peace between Russia and Ukraine in the early days of Russia’s “special military operation.” For those with short-term memory, Bennet made a trip to Russia on March 4, 2022, to talk with President Vladimir Putin. During the interview, he went into the mediation process that he tried to facilitate between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Per the former Israeli Prime…
On January 21, 2023, Argentina and Brazil announced tentative plans to establish a common currency. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva and Argentinian President Alberto Fernández wrote a joint piece published in Argentinian paper Perfil floating the idea of a currency project along with other measures to bolster regional integration. Initially, the currency project would run in tandem with Argentina’s and Brazil’s respective currencies, the peso and the real. This project is designed to amplify trade opportunities among South American countries and reduce dependence on the US dollar. In realizing this project, Brazil and Argentina would establish the second largest currency…
Geopolitical observers anticipating the decline of American hegemony had a lot to chew on in the past week when Chinese leader Xi Jinping visited Saudi Arabia for three days to discuss a host of economic and security issues the countries have intentions of working on. This three-day trip ended with the first China-Arab Summit December 9, 2022. At the series of meetings Xi held with his Arab counterparts, $30 billion in agreements involving trade, technology transfers, and military cooperation were signed by Saudi Arabia and China. Most prominent among the agreements signed by the two parties include the Saudi’s plan…
To say that the past week of politics in Peru has been a roller coaster ride would be an understatement. Then-President Pedro Castillo shocked the international community on December 7, 2022, when he announced a plan to dissolve the Peruvian Congress and set up an emergency government. From there, Castillo pushed for parliamentary elections that would lead to the creation of a new constitution. Castillo pulled these moves in anticipation of the Peruvian Congress’s decision to impeach him. At the time, lawmakers were moving forward with a third impeachment attempt, in which they accused Castillo of corruption. Castillo’s attempted power…
How deep will relations between Iran and Venezuela go? As two oil-rich nations that find themselves in the crosshairs of the U.S. Deep State, Iran and Venezuela have forged strong ties in the past two decades. Due to issues of domestic corruption and mismanagement, in addition to US sanctions and the lack of investment and technical expertise, Venezuela’s once prestigious oil sector is now on the ropes. Consequently, it has turned to Iran for assistance in various fields. In June 2022, Iran and Venezuela signed off on a 20-year cooperation plan where Iran would help Venezuela maintain and repair its…
On November 20, 2022, Iranian military forces launched a series of air strikes against Kurdish groups in northern Iraq. These groups were alleged to be connected to anti-government protests inside of Iran, which were kicked off by the death of a 22-year old Iranian Kurdish woman back in the middle of September. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claims to have hit three areas of Iraq’s Kurdistan region with drones and missiles. Camps that supposedly housed terrorist groups were the primary targets. According to accounts from Iranian state media, 26 members of the Komala and the Democratic Party of Iranian…