Black Sea Program News Today

Daily on Defense: Biden signs $95 billion aid bill, US cagey about ATACMS transfer to Ukraine, Blinken in China to ‘manage’ relationship

Daily on Defense: Biden to sign aid bill, Schumer and McConnell align, Blinken to China, forced TikTok sale faces legal challenges

Daily on Defense: Russia showing desperation, Biden promises long-range ATACMS, Senate debates aid bill, UK’s massive aid package, Poland’s nuclear ambition

Moldova is a country with a rich tapestry of multiple ethnic identities and linguistic traditions, but one where policymakers have long grappled with the complexities of preserving minority rights, fostering national unity, and addressing regional autonomy through engagement with the Gagauz minority.

Russia’s aggression in the Black Sea countries has targeted societal vulnerabilities and exploited ethnic tensions in the Black Sea region for decades. Russia’s full-scale war has further exploited these vulnerabilities. But slow and imperfect democratization processes, economic hardship and inequality have also had long-lasting effects on societal resilience and the formation of national identities that are inclusive and democratic. 

No longer in use for drilling, the platforms are a strategic target, as demonstrated in clashes last month.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has highlighted NATO’s front line as vital for collective defense. The United States’ leadership of the West and its investments in Central and Eastern Europe are now being streamlined into a policy to support Ukraine and strengthen key NATO allies in the region. In turn, Poland and Romania, as anchors of the Alliance's eastern front line, are adapting their defense postures in line with NATO and in response to Russia’s aggression. 

The Middle East Institute (MEI) is pleased to convene a virtual conference highlighting a number of synergistic themes associated with climate change throughout the week of the event. These daily themes put into focus areas of priority for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), as the region begins to look ahead towards hosting the upcoming COP28 climate meeting in the UAE, following last year’s COP27 meeting in Egypt.

Written byArzu Geybullayeva ( Globalvoices.org) -Showing up at a polling station, as one of the two presidential candidates, in a …

Iran’s combined oil and gas reserves are the largest of any country in the world. And yet the government has long failed to generate policies that would enable the country to benefit from its huge natural resources. Some of these shortcomings are international in nature, such as sanctions. Many others are rooted in poor macroeconomic policies and populist initiatives replacing competent and realistic policy choices. Given this reality, how well, or not, is Iran placed to be able to confront th...