On February 22, a day after the Kremlin announced it was recognizing eastern Ukraine’s separatist Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” as “independent,” Berlin declared it would indefinitely halt the certification of the Russian Nord Stream Two natural gas pipeline (Kyiv Post, February 22). And though... MORE

Germany’s new chancellor, Olaf Scholz, conferred with the Ukrainian and Russian presidents in Kyiv and Moscow on February 14 and 15, respectively, turning these maiden visits into a shuttle-diplomacy effort. Far from even-handed, however, Scholz effectively sided with Russia against Ukraine (see EDM, February 15).... MORE

The ongoing Russian military buildup along Ukraine’s borders has raised numerous concerns about whether the situation could escalate into all-out war (see November 8, 2021 and January 26, 2022) and triggered a wide-scale international response (see EDM, January 18). Notably, the crisis has more energetically... MORE

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on February 14 and went on to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow the following day. Preceding Scholz was French President Emmanuel Macron, who met with Putin and Zelenskyy (in... MORE

French President Emmanuel Macron held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on February 7 and 8, respectively. Overshadowing the talks were Russian forces staging a war scare near Ukraine’s borders. Macron is attempting a solo act,... MORE

On February 7, French President Emmanuel Macron visited Moscow and spent over five hours talking with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in an attempt to negotiate a de-escalation of the present acute security crisis over Ukraine (Kremlin.ru, February 8). France holds the rotating presidency of... MORE

Chinese Interests Come Under Pressure in Myanmar’s Insurgency Jacob Zenn China’s involvement in economic projects in Pakistan has riled ethnic-based insurgent groups, which believe their peoples’ interests are being ignored, or worse, trampled upon (Terrorism Monitor, May 7, 2021). In Myanmar, however, this trend of... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here. An itemized list of Ukraine’s latest request for German security assistance has found its way into two major German papers (Süddeutsche Zeitung, Der Spiegel, February 5). The Ukrainian embassy and the military attaché’s office in Berlin addressed this... MORE

Germany ranks among the top arms-exporting countries worldwide. However, it is withholding lethal security assistance to Ukraine and provides even non-lethal assistance with conspicuous parsimony. Germany’s tripartite coalition government, in office since December 8, 2021, is continuing the policy of the predecessor government of Angela... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov is content with the resumption of the quadrilateral (Ukraine, Russia, France, Germany) Normandy process and the direction it seems to be taking (see Part One). The outlook, according to Peskov, is “not bad at... MORE