Theme

Diplomacy

Editor's choice
Monday Commentary
NATO Summit in The Hague II: everyone survived, now all eyes on Türkiye

NATO Summit in The Hague II: everyone survived, now all eyes on Türkiye

The Nato Summit held in The Hague on 24-25 June was a failure, wrapped in success. It was a success because it avoided public display of divisions, mainly by avoiding issues: it was the shortest summit anyone can remember; it also had a very short final statement that basically had two points, the first a re-commitment to article 5 of the North Atlantic Charter and the principle that an attack on one will be considered an attack on all. The fact that Nato leaders in the Hague had felt the need to re-emphasise this should be a cause of worry not celebration, but in the end, it is good that it was said. The second outcome, the one that received most attention, was the commitment of European countries to spend more on their defence: 5 per cent of GDP, of which 3.5 per cent on hard defence, and 1.5 per cent on related ancillary areas such as infrastructure. You may, if you want, believe that this was a response to US President Donald Trump's insistence. Or, if you are more prudent, understand that countries that matter – Germany, France, Poland and the Scandinavian countries had decided on this course of action quite separately, and as a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which was a wake-up call. Finland and Sweden’s decision to abandon their neutrality, and join NATO was taken long before Trump returned to the White House. The EU’s decision to spend massively on defence was always to ensure that other European countries are part of this process, willy-nilly.

Filter archive

Publication date
Editor's choice
News
IGAD team held talks with Somalia

IGAD team held talks with Somalia

A fact-finding IGAD team arrived in Gedo, Somalia to hold talks with the government in a bid to end the tensions between Kenya and Somalia. The dispute has now been eased but IGAD is putting pressure on both sides to restore ties. Somalia had in late 2020, cut relations with Kenya over accusations of meddling in local politics for "far too long".
Editor's choice
News
Is the Karabakh conflict resolved, or not resolved?

Is the Karabakh conflict resolved, or not resolved?

It seems that there is no agreement as to whether the Karabakh conflict is resolved or not. Azerbaijan is willing to accept the status quo de facto, although it still claims those parts of Karabakh still under the control of Armenians. For the Armenians, the status of Karabakh remains an important issue since they hope that they can salvage something, after their military defeat, through political negotiations in the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group.
Editor's choice
News
Putin hosts Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders for talks on Karabakh settlement (Updated)

Putin hosts Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders for talks on Karabakh settlement (Updated)

Russian president Vladimir Putin on Monday hosted the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan for discussions on the implementation of the Karabakh settlement envisaged in the 10 November trilateral statement which ended fighting in the second Karabakh war. The three leaders signed a joint statement at the end of the four hour meeting.