Russia’s war on Ukraine has prompted the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union to examine current security vulnerabilities in Europe and find a way to address them. One of the major areas of focus has been the Balkans, and three outstanding security... MORE

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is what the political leaders in the capitals of member countries make it to be. The summit just held confirmed this reality (see EDM, July 6, 7, November 7, 2019, Part One and Part Two). NATO decisions necessitate working... MORE

Spitzbergen, the largest and only continually inhabited island of the Svalbard Archipelago, located in the Arctic Ocean, 1,000 kilometers north of Norway, is on its way to becoming a new hotspot in the emerging cold war between the Russian Federation and the West (Nrk.no, June... MORE

After more than four months of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, open-source data confirms that the Russian Armed Forces lost, at a minimum, over 830 tanks and 1,650 different types of armored vehicles (destroyed, damaged, abandoned or captured) as well as dozens of combat aircraft and... MORE

In late June, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei gave an extensive interview to Sputnik, a state-backed Russian media and propaganda outlet with affiliates in several countries, including Belarus. One of the overarching and persistent themes emerging from his remarks was the adamant rejection of the... MORE

Heads of state and government of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) convened on June 28–30, in Madrid, in the unprecedented circumstances of Russia’s invasion of NATO’s most important partner country, Ukraine, touching on the Alliance’s own eastern front line. The military-political bloc adopted a... MORE

On June 28–30, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili took part in the ceremonial portions of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit held in Madrid, Spain. In general, this latest gathering of Alliance leaders not only did not bring about anything new or substantial for... MORE

On the Donbas battlefields, Russian troops still strive to advance, but in the global arena of confrontation with the collective West, Russia keeps losing ground. A sequence of heavy blows breached Russian defensive geopolitical positions last week, and Moscow’s attempts at counterstrikes only aggravated the... MORE

Introduction As the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) approaches its 20th National Congress, the economic downturn in China has opened a Pandora’s Box of theoretical debates on how to manage this crisis. Premier Li Keqiang recently suggested that the nation’s economic performance has been weak and... MORE

Introduction Since its inception in 2012, the Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries (China-CEEC; 中国—中东欧国家合作, Zhongguo—Zhong Dong Ou Guojia Hezuo), better known as the 16+1 or 17+1 initiative, has often been described as a security risk with the potential to divide European... MORE