This July, Chinese President Xi Jinping embarked on state visits to Argentina, Cuba and Venezuela and attended a summit of the loose group of major developing countries known as BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in Fortaleza, Brazil. This was his second trip... MORE

During July 11–16, Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled around Latin America. Apart from attending the BRICS (loose political-economic grouping of rising developing countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, Putin visited Cuba, Nicaragua and Argentina, he watched the World Cup... MORE

The upcoming BRICS (a loose political-economic grouping of the large emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit, scheduled to take place in Fortaleza, Brazil, on July 15–17, provided an occasion for President Vladimir Putin to make a lengthy tour around Latin... MORE

In few other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have the strategic objectives of China been as clear as in its relationship with Costa Rica. Yet in few other countries has the PRC experienced so many difficulties compared to the level of effort invested.... MORE

If focused exclusively on Russian actions in Ukraine or other areas contiguous to Russia, one loses sight of major elements of Moscow’s foreign policy. The Russian Federation considers itself to be a global power that is active everywhere and that, whatever Russia’s leadership might publicly... MORE

Colombia’s Marxist Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) began its armed struggle in 1964. Fifty years later, FARC representatives and Colombian government officials are negotiating in Havana in peace talks initiated in 2012 by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. Santos, facing reelection in May, is... MORE

Nobody should think that Moscow’s aggressive campaign to restore its former status as a global great power or its fundamentally anti-American policy is currently confined to Ukraine. Indeed, while the invasion, occupation and annexation of Crimea—not to mention the threats to eastern Ukraine—continue, Moscow is... MORE

On February 4, 2014, Kazakhstan and El Salvador established diplomatic relations. Kazakhstan’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Kairat Abdrakhmanov, and his Salvadorian counterpart, Enrique Garcia Gonzalez, signed a communiqué to this end in New York on January 30 (Trend, February 4). On January 16,... MORE

Two Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers have flown from their permanent base in Engels airbase in the Saratov oblast on the Volga River to Venezuela on October 28. From Venezuela, the bombers patrolled the Caribbean and also landed in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. From Managua,... MORE