Home NATO

Article Tag: NATO

Article
In Geopolitics

In-fighting in NATO

Last week’s meeting of NATO foreign ministers was supposed to address the alliance’s future and ways for it to stay relevant. Instead, it devolved into an acrimonious exchange of grievances, reinforcing the internal cleavages that plague it. Turkey was at the heart of the controversy, with outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lashing out...

Article
In Geopolitics

Is This Really About Libya?

Last week’s run-in between a Turkey-flagged cargo ship and an EU maritime patrol, part of Operation IRINI set up to enforce the arms embargo on Libya, demonstrated once again that tensions on the Mediterranean Sea, far from easing, are deepening to worrisome levels. The issues are complex and Libya, a conflict that has exposed fault...

Article
In Geopolitics

Making sense of America

To put it diplomatically, the Trump administration, from the day it took office, has been unusual. No less so the transfer of power, if we can call it that. Since the presidential election was called in Joe Biden’s favor, Trump and his cohorts have acted in ways more akin to a dictatorship, refusing to concede...

Article
In Geopolitics

Nationalism versus geopolitics

After many months of nail-biting tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey and Greece now appear to be ready to sit down to hammer out a negotiated settlement over exclusive economic zones and other areas of disagreement. But these sorts of negotiated settlements never play out exclusively in the international arena; there are always domestic considerations....

Article
In Geopolitics

France’s folly

French behavior in recent months has been perplexing or, for the less diplomatically-inclined, downright aggravating. Whether it is dictating to Lebanon or pretending it still has colonial influence in Syria, the French government under Emmanuel Macron’s leadership exhibits the kind of post-colonial hubris one might ascribe to an empire in decline. Only, France as an...

Article
In Geopolitics

Should Turkey worry about a Biden presidency?

If there’s one thing that needs little emphasis, it is that when a senior U.S. politician says something, the world generally listens and reacts. This was again demonstrated last week after a leaked video appeared to show Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden calling for the ouster of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkish media and...