When Timor-Leste gained independence, it made the surprising choice to adopt the minority language of its colonial past – a strategy that has since been central in shaping the modern nation.
Posted on March 8, 2026.
When Timor-Leste gained independence, it made the surprising choice to adopt the minority language of its colonial past – a strategy that has since been central in shaping the modern nation.
Posted in Asia, Education, Political Security, World
Posted on January 24, 2021.
Image by Tyler Merber There are many terms being thrown around to describe the events in Washington DC on 6 January: sedition, insurrection, protest, riot, mob, even coup. The most historically accurate term is a putsch, with any number of examples of angry mobs being channelled to overthrow civilian authority. It may have started as […]
Posted in Europe, France, Germany, Political Security, Security Issues, Terrorism, US, World
Posted on December 23, 2020.
American recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over its Sahara and the normalisation of relations between Morocco and Israel could have lasting benefits for the cause of peace in North Africa and the Middle East. For North Africa, the Sahara dispute between Morocco and the Algerian backed Polisario has dragged on for 45 years, making it one […]
Posted in Africa, Conflict, Culture, Economic Security, Economics, Global Economy, Israel, Israeli Palestinian Conflict, Middle East, NATO, Political Security, Refugees, Religion, Security Issues, UN, US, World
Posted on June 22, 2018.
Last month, two more countries broke away from the fast dwindling assortment of diplomatic allies that officially recognise Taiwan as a sovereign state. The political volte-face in May by the Dominican Republic and Burkina Faso in favour of closer ties with Beijing follows a long trend of diplomatic shifts that leave Taiwan increasingly isolated on the […]
Posted in Asia, China, Conflict, Political Security, Security Issues, World
Posted on March 27, 2018.
In the autumn of 2013, China’s president, Xi Jinping, first introduced plans for what has become known as the ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative, the largest integrated international infrastructure project the country has yet undertaken. The plan consists of a land-based economic belt and a string of ports constituting a ‘maritime silk road’, stretching from […]
Posted in Asia, China, Economic Security, Economics, Global Economy, Political Security, Security Issues
Posted on July 1, 2017.
Rumblings are rife in Angola that something is afoot at the highest reaches of government. What may be in the offing? Everything from a top-level government shakeup to a full-fledged coup have been talked about. To keen observers of politics and conflict, it would not be surprising if people in power took sudden actions to […]
Posted in Africa, corruption, Political Security, World
Posted on May 12, 2017.
By Eugen Iladi It’s no secret that Russia is using military means and disinformation to try to reassemble its Soviet Union footprint. Ukraine has drawn the most headlines in this effort. But the Kremlin has long been working its land-grab plan in Georgia, Moldova and Azerbaijan. Russia’s economic failure and social challenges in the 21st […]
Posted in Conflict, Europe, Political Security, Russia, Ukraine Conflict, US, World
Posted on July 2, 2016.
Turkey has a history of strict censorship which still remains a prominent issue in modern day Istanbul and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. Media censorship is at an all time high with 140 press censorship cases already known in the country, newspapers have been shut down and journalists imprisoned. Now censorship is spreading to the […]
Posted in Culture, Europe, Middle East, Political Security, Turkey, World
Posted on May 7, 2016.
I sat down with the U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission for the U.K., Minister Elizabeth Dibble, to discuss the Obama visit, the Middle East and the complex Iran-Saudi relationship. The Obama Visit to the U.K. D.M.: You touched on President Obama’s visit in your talk and what he said about the EU referendum. What for […]
Posted in Conflict, Interviews, Iran, Israel, Israeli Palestinian Conflict, Middle East, Political Security, Saudi Arabia, Security Issues, Syria, US, World, Yemen
Posted on May 7, 2016.
It’s official: Australia’s “Stop the Boats” campaign is a success. Or so the government claims. Back in 2013, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott ascended to his post in part because of his pledge to “stop the boats,” or, in less catchy rhetoric, to prevent asylum seekers – mostly arriving by sea from the Middle East […]
Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Conflict, Europe, Iran, Political Security, Refugees, Syria, UN, World
Posted on May 7, 2016.
Vladimir Putin’s Russia has, especially in recent years, come under heavy criticism from many in the West. Much of this criticism, however, deals with Russian aggression toward Ukraine, the extrajudicial killings of critics of the Putin regime such as Alexander Litvinenko, or accusations of widespread corruption. All of these issues are clearly in violation […]
Posted in Europe, Political Security, Russia, Security Issues, World
Posted on February 16, 2016.
Introduction At the time of India’s independence in 1947 the world had just witnessed the end of the Second World War and was slowly being engulfed in a new power struggle with the Cold War. The brewing trend of the time was that of alliance forming with either of the blocs led by the United States (US) […]
Posted in China, Conflict, India, Political Security, Security Issues, US, World
Posted on January 22, 2016.
The execution of a renowned Arab Shi’a cleric, Sheikh Nimr, just after the New Year has set long-standing rivals Iran and Saudi-Arabia on a new collision course. Radical elements in Iran attacked the Saudi diplomatic compound in the country prompting Riyadh to sever its relations with Tehran. While the Iranian government condemned the attacks, immediately dismissing some officials […]
Posted in Conflict, Iran, Iraq, Islam, Middle East, Political Security, Religion, Security Issues, Syria, World
Posted on December 31, 2015.
By Mustapha El-Khalfi – Minister of Communications, Spokesman of the Government of Morocco With difficult global headwinds and regional instability, now is the time to embrace a new era of national unity Since 2004 $1 billion has been invested in the Moroccan Sahara, which is evident in the construction of more than 150 new local […]
Posted in Africa, Economic Security, Europe, Food Security, Global Economy, Middle East, Political Security, Security Issues, World
Posted on September 7, 2015.
Just three weeks after entering office, Polish President Andrzej Duda’s first official visit to Berlin on August 28 allayed concerns in some quarters that his presidency would resurrect the combative foreign policy his right-wing party, Law and Justice, practiced the last time it was in power from 2005 to 2007. Back then, prickly ties with […]
Posted in Conflict, Economic Security, Europe, Germany, Political Security, Russia, Security Issues, Ukraine Conflict, World
Posted on September 1, 2015.
In the opening hours of Tuesday, April 27th, 1965, a small team of United States marines landed ashore on the western outskirts of Santo Domingo. They were en route to the Hotel Embajador, a makeshift sanctuary for thousands of foreign nationals caught in the middle of the Dominican Republic’s civil war. Just three nights earlier, […]
Posted in Latin America, Political Security, Security Issues, US, World
Posted on August 15, 2015.
At a time when the Middle East appears to be crumbling Jordan appears to be standing firm – a beacon of hope in a burning region. But is Jordan really as stable as it appears? Are we just turning a blind eye to the compromises that come with such stability at a time of such uncertainty […]
Posted in Middle East, Political Security, World
Posted on April 20, 2015.
A brave 12-year-old girl named Zeynab Daghastani recently attempted to escape the grim living conditions of a besieged Palestinian refugee camp in Syria. Starving and bone-tired, she did not make it very far before being shot and killed by an ISIS sniper. Welcome to Yarmouk. On April 1st, a group of ISIS’s mask-wearing jihadists swept through the […]
Posted in Conflict, Humanitarian Intervention, Israeli Palestinian Conflict, Middle East, Political Security, Refugees, Security Issues, Syria, Terrorism, UN, US, World
Posted on April 4, 2015.
ISIS’ exploits dominate headlines, horrifying witnesses around the world. As a history graduate who specialised in researching the rise of Islam, its culture, and its creation of a complex and inspiring civilisation, the recent destruction of millennia old artefacts have almost reduced me to tears. As we now watch and condemn the destruction of priceless […]
Posted in Conflict, Humanitarian Intervention, Iraq, Islam, Middle East, Political Security, Refugees, Religion, Security Issues, Syria, Terrorism, World
Posted on March 28, 2015.
Almost everybody thinks badly of Israel. That’s what a poll published by the BBC World Service in 2014 shows. More precisely, Israel ranks as the fourth most negatively viewed nation, right after North Korea, Pakistan and Iran. What explains the differences between European and American views on Israel, and how does such an overall negative […]
Posted in Conflict, Economics, Israel, Israeli Palestinian Conflict, Middle East, Political Security, Security Issues, World