Author: Jose Niño

Towards the end of July, Kosovar Serbs blocked roads and set up barricades in protest of authorities’ decision to ban cars with Serbian license plates and documents from entering Kosovo. This measure would have gone into effect on August 1. Kosovo’s move prompted Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić to accuse it of planning to launch an attack. So far, this attack has not come to pass. However, in the wake of Vučić ’s hostile comments towards Kosovo, Kosovar authorities decided to postpone this law’s adoption by a month. NATO’s peacekeeping mission in Kosovo made the usual noises in a statement where…

While everyone is focused on the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, unrest is starting to brew worldwide. It’s not just the Collective West experiencing domestic turmoil. Growing parts of the Global South are witnessing great social upheavals due to the breakdown in global supply chains, energy shocks, and agricultural shortages brought about by the Russo-Ukraine conflict. The case of Malawi is peculiar, yet indicative of where things are headed in the short-term. On July 21, 2022 mass protests broke out in Malawi ostensibly against corruption and rising living costs. Inflation appears to be a fixture of many economies in the COVID-19 era. In…

Gustavo Petro’s electoral victory on June 19, 2022 sent shock waves across Latin America. As Colombia’s first leftist president to be elected to higher office, Petro has sparked significant discussion about what his presidency holds for the future of Latin America. Petro’s electoral success undoubtedly has people wondering what course he will take. Upon receiving news of Petro’s victory, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and United States Sen Marco Rubio (R-FL) instantly invoked Cold War era tropes. DeSantis gave a speech at a press briefing on June 20, where he declared the following: “The election in Colombia of a former narco-terrorist…

Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Iran has been in the American Deep State’s crosshairs. The US has made it a point to sanction and maintain cold diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic. Additionally, Israel — one of the US’s key allies in the region — has taken a hawkish line against Iran, particularly towards its nuclear program and funding of proxies across the Middle East. Altogether, this has made Iran one of the US’s main rivals and targets for regime change in recent decades. Despite efforts to overthrow the mullahs in control of the Iranian regime, the Islamic Republic…

To say that the Organization of American States’ Summit of the Americas event held in Los Angeles from June 6 to June 10 was a debacle, would be an understatement. Initially, countries like Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua were banned from attending the event. This caused Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to protest and not attend. México was followed by presidents Luis Arce of Bolivia, Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, Alejandro Giammattei of Guatemala, and Xiomara Castro of Honduras in refusing to participate in the summit. The ostensive mission of the event was the promotion of democracy. Additionally, migration, corruption,…

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Europe has committed itself to sanctioning Russia to the last European with five Euros in his pocket in an effort to strangle its economy, thereby throwing a major wrench in its military campaign. So far, Russia appears to be chugging along without many issues and is poised to liberate the Donbass from Ukraine. However, things may not be looking so good on the Old Continent. Germany, Europe’s premier economic powerhouse, looks like it committed an own goal by hopping on board the European Union’s sanctions train. According to a report by…

According to a piece at the Venezuelan paper, El Nacional Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro recently said that now is the right moment for Turkish investment in the Venezuelan economy to increase. On April 28, 2022. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and several delegates paid a visit to Caracas to meet up with Minister of Petroleum Tareck El Aissami in addition to other figures of Maduro’s cabinet. During an address on the state-run television station VTV, Maduro called on increased Turkish investment in sectors such as food production, technology, telecommunications, heavy industry, light industry, tourism, oil & gas, and petrochemicals, among…

On April 10, 2022, the Pakistani Parliament removed Imran Khan from his position of Prime Minister. Khan was ousted from his position after Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled that Khan’s attempt to dissolve the Parliament was unconstitutional. Khan blamed the United States for his removal from office. He argued that he was a victim of a “U.S.-backed regime change” plot that his opposition orchestrated. Elected officials in Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party subsequently resigned in response to the former cricket star’s ouster. The Parliament then chose Shahbaz Sharif as Pakistan’s new Prime Minister on April 11. Khan was already in trouble for…

In late March, the Solomon Islands and China signed a draft security agreement that now allows China to send police, military personnel, or other security forces to the islands for the purpose of quelling unrest. In addition, China will be allowed to dock at Solomon Islands’ ports and replenish supplies per a report by Nikkei Asia on March 31. The draft agreement is still being hammered out and must later be signed by the foreign ministers in China and the Solomon Islands. However, the main provisions of this agreement will not be radically changed. As a result of the China-Solomon…

Recent developments show that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is far from over. On March 24, 2021, Azerbaijani military went across the line of contact of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh territory and captured the village of Parukh. Subsequently, the Azerbaijani forces compelled women and children from a nearby village in Khramort to evacuate for security purposes. The Armenian foreign ministry sharply criticized what it deemed as an Azerbaijani “invasion.” Armenian authorities urged Russian peacekeeping forces to step in and force Azerbaijani troops to withdraw to the positions they previously held. The Azerbaijani incursion came at a time when tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia…