On March 25, the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II, in a letter to the spiritual head of global Christian Orthodoxy, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, called for defusing tensions in the Ukrainian Orthodox community. The letter stated: “The government of Ukraine has... MORE

On March 30, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka delivered his state of the nation address to the Belarusian parliament (Belta, March 31). The speech lasted over three hours and was followed by a more than 90-minute Q&A session. The four main themes of the Belarusian president’s... MORE

In February 2023, Uzbekistani President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced an energy package valued at over $1 billion to ease the country’s heating and electricity needs (Tashkent Times, February 8). In this, while Russia is considered a key player in providing Tashkent with much-needed oil and natural... MORE

On March 31, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka delivered his annual address to the Belarusian people and parliament (President.gov.by, March 31). A week earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin had announced that Moscow would deploy tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory (see EDM, March 27). The announcement... MORE

In a development with enormous consequences both for international trade and for Moscow’s control of its far-flung regions across the country’s northern third—places not linked to the center by roads or railways—the Russian Federation is rapidly losing its historical dominance over the Northern Sea Route... MORE

U.S.-China relations appear headed for further deterioration despite the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) efforts to lure back American multinationals and Beijing’s relatively limited support for Russia in its war with Ukraine. Washington has characterized the "existential competition" with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as... MORE

On March 31, President Vladimir Putin signed a new decree on Russia’s “Foreign Policy Concept,” an odd document that attempts to combine the Kremlin’s distorted worldview with an inflated perception of Russia’s role in the world, aiming to beguile the states of the Global South.... MORE

In the second half of February 2023, Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Jozef Síkela (Gov.pl, February 16) and Prime Minister Petr Fiala visited Poland (Gov.pl, February 22; Zahranicni.hn.cz, February 22). The intergovernmental meetings included discussions on two natural gas projects: the construction of an interconnector... MORE

On March 19, gunmen stormed a gold mine near Bambari, in the heart of the Central African Republic (CAR), killing nine Chinese workers. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) Embassy in the CAR issued successive warnings for Chinese nationals to evacuate all areas outside of... MORE

Introduction In tandem with its increasingly provocative coercive military measures directed against Taiwan, throughout the course of 2022, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) also ramped up its accompanying rhetoric. The PRC vigorously reasserted its irredentist sovereignty claims, decried alleged “separatist” activities by Taiwan’s political... MORE