While expressing some “concerns,” United States President Donald Trump signed the “Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act,” on August 2 (Whitehouse.gov, August 2)—legislation that was overwhelmingly approved by the US House of Representatives late last month. Among other provisions, the new law opens the door... MORE

Mali: Limited Progress on Sahel Joint Force The proposed anti-terror joint force of the Sahel G5 nations — Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger — received a boost this month when the EU pledged the equivalent of $56 million to bolster security efforts in... MORE

Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Sochi, on May 17, a few days before the G7 summit, which was organized by Italy and held in Taormina, Sicily. The Trump-Gentiloni meeting focused on a number of pressing issues, from economic... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here. Aiming for progress on the political implementation of the Minsk armistice (“to which we have no alternative”) was not the ambition of German Chancellor Angela Merkel when embarking on her visit to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi... MORE

German Chancellor Angela Merkel took the initiative to visit Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on May 2. The German agenda included preparations for the upcoming G-20 summit in Germany (where the presidents of Russia and the United States will meet), the situation in Syria... MORE

Georgian Defense Minister Levan Izoria traveled to France, on April 18–19, for a working visit. One of the main topics of his talks with French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, in Paris, was the execution of the previously signed contract on delivery of the latest... MORE

On April 6, Italy’s Lazio Regional Administrative Court (LRAC) suspended the environmental impact permit for the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which would have allowed for the relocation of olive trees that obstruct the planned path of the pipeline in the Puglia region town of Melendugno (Italianinsider.it,... MORE

Just a couple of months ago, things looked to be going thoroughly President Vladimir Putin’s way. The 2016 elections in the United States gave the presidency to Donald Trump—a flamboyant real estate mogul and reality TV star, a nationalist and an isolationist. Throughout his campaign,... MORE

Two arrests in Spain’s two biggest cities have brought to the fore the complex issues of Russian cyber activities in the West and relations between Madrid and Moscow. On January 13, at Barcelona’s El Prat Airport, Spain’s Civil Guard (constabulary-type police force) arrested computer programmer... MORE

German Chancellor Angela Merkel received Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on January 30, in Berlin, for an “exchange of views” on the “conflict in Ukraine,” “the peace process and the implementation of the Minsk armistice” (Bundeslanzlerin.de, January 27, 30). Those code words are widely used in... MORE