Filter archive

Publication date
Editor's choice
Opinion
Opinion: The future of the China-US-Russia triangle after Pelosi's visit to Taiwan

Opinion: The future of the China-US-Russia triangle after Pelosi's visit to Taiwan

Since February 24, 2022, the international community's focus was concentrated entirely on the war in Ukraine and the growing Russia – West confrontation. It seemed that nothing could change the situation until the end of hostilities in Ukraine. However, on August 2 and 3, almost everyone’s attention shifted from Ukraine to Taiwan. As the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, stated her intention to visit Taiwan, up to half a million people were watching the trajectory of her plane on air flight tracking sites. The negative reaction of China, including the warning of President Xi during his conversation with President Biden that those who played with fire would be perished by it, created hype around this visit. Many were discussing the possibility of Chinese military jets closing the airspace over Taiwan and preventing Pelosi’s plane from landing in Taiwan, while some enthusiasts were even contemplating the possibility of a US-China direct military clash. As Pelosi landed in Taiwan and met with the Taiwanese President, the global social media was full of amateur assessments about the strategic victory of the US and the confirmation of the US global hegemony. However, as the dust settles down, and information noise and manipulation eventually decreases, a more serious assessment is needed to understand the real consequences of this visit.
Editor's choice
GULF CRISIS
Two US military killed in Jordan whilst US and Iran continue bombardments

Two US military killed in Jordan whilst US and Iran continue bombardments

The US launched another round of air strikes against Iran on Saturday night, targeting its coastal surveillance and air defence facilities, US military officials said. US Central Command (Centcom) said forces successfully hit Iranian military capabilities, while Iranian state media said Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz had been struck. Centcom said it also targeted Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) responsible for the attack that killed two US troops in Jordan on Friday, where another service member remains missing. In response to the latest strikes, Iran's army said it carried out drone attacks on two US bases in Kuwait, according to state media. The US and Iran have ramped up attacks against each other in recent days, with both sides accused of striking critical infrastructure. On Saturday, Iran said it carried out "large-scale attacks with kamikaze drones" against an American military "depot at Camp Udairi" and another at "Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait", according to the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency. The US strikes, on the eighth successive night of attacks, were "designed to further degrade Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz", Centcom said. The strikes were to "swiftly punish Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces who launched attacks against American service members in Jordan last night," the statement continued. It followed a week of renewed hostilities in which Washington reimposed its blockade of Iranian ports and Tehran declared the Strait of Hormuz closed, as their preliminary ceasefire collapsed less than a month after it began. In a statement earlier on Saturday, Centcom said: "Two US service members in Jordan were killed in action as US Central Command (Centcom) and partner forces defended against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks. Additionally, one service member is currently missing. "Out of respect for the families, Centcom will withhold additional information, including the identities of the fallen warriors, until 24 hours after the next of kin have been notified." US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth responded to the deaths with a post on X that said: "Godspeed, heroes. Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve." The US death toll in the conflict has now risen to 16 after an American Navy pilot who went missing earlier this month was declared dead, marking the second increase in the toll this week. Washington and Tehran struck a preliminary deal to end the war in June, but the agreement unravelled within weeks - with President Donald Trump declaring the agreement "over" on 8 July.
Editor's choice
GULF CRISIS
US continues to bomb Iran

US continues to bomb Iran

A  seventh consecutive night of attacks by United States forces on targets across Iran has left 10,000 people without water after a desalination plant was hit, with Iran retaliating by launching another wave of drones and missiles at US-allied Gulf states, according to the Qatari Channel Al Jazeera. Hamzeh Pour, chief executive of the Hormozgan Water and Wastewater Company, was quoted by the Tasnim news agency on Saturday as saying that a seawater pumping station and a power transformer at the Bunji desalination plant in Jask in southern Iran were “completely destroyed”, depriving 20 villages of water. Iran’s retaliation also targeted civilian infrast ructure, a war crime under international humanitarian law. In the early hours of Saturday, Kuwait announced the closure of its airspace and said two power and water desalination plants were hit by Iranian attacks. Several Kuwaiti firefighters were wounded while responding to a fire sparked by the strikes, the country’s firefighting force said. Air raid sirens also sounded repeatedly in Bahrain, where authorities urged residents to seek shelter. In Jordan, authorities said they intercepted 10 Iranian ballistic missiles. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said its naval forces had targeted a US military fuel pier at Kuwait’s al-Ahmadi port and a US warplane assembly site at Bahrain’s Sheikh Isa Air Base. The IRGC also said it attacked a US base in Azraq in Jordan, claiming to have destroyed two American fighter jets. The Iranian attacks came after the US military’s Central Command, or CENTCOM, announced it had carried another wave of overnight strikes targeting “surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities” in Iran. (click image to read more)