Extreme poverty, lack of opportunities, mistrust of democratic institutions representing the state and religious radicalisms that take advantage of these dramatic conditions are some of the reasons that create the ideal breeding grounds for the emergence and development of terrorist organizations. The Maghreb is a region in northwest Africa that [ … ]
For a long time, it could be said that China, unlike Russia, sought to be loved rather than to be feared; that it wanted to seduce, project a positive image of itself in the world, and arouse admiration. Today, Beijing has not given up on seduction, on its attractiveness, and [ … ]
As I boarded my flight in Bogotá, Colombia, to return to the United States on March 14, 2020, after participating in the joint Colombia-U.S. Exercise Vita in the Guajira Peninsula, the reality of how the COVID-19 pandemic was going to affect our lives over the next year began to manifest. [ … ]
Disinformation in Southeast Europe Since the end of the Cold War, the countries of Southeast Europe have pursued Euro-Atlantic integration with varying degrees of success. In recent years, however, that process has lost momentum as prospects for further NATO and European Union enlargement appear to have stalled. Even countries that [ … ]
Two years after the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world to the brink of a nuclear war, the Soviet Politburo ousted its leader, Nikita Khrushchev. Then-Politburo member Pyotr Shelest told me that many believed Khrushchev’s predisposition for unacceptable risk would again put the USSR in needless danger. This history [ … ]
With inflation at a record high, millions of its citizens fleeing the country, and a political opposition recognized by most Western democracies as the legitimate government of Venezuela, the regime of Nicolás Maduro seemed to be on the brink of collapse in 2019. But Maduro regime survived, thanks to a [ … ]
The indirect threat made by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as the crisis in the Ukraine escalated in January 2022, that Russia could not rule out deploying military forces to Venezuela and Cuba, highlighted the strategic risks posed by Russia's position in the Western Hemisphere. On its face, the [ … ]
The predictable triumph by Maduro loyalists in Venezuela’s rigged November 2021 elections was a symbolic nail in the coffin for the attempt by the de jure government of Juan Guaido to restore the more liberal type of democracy previously prevailing in the country. Venezuela now seems to ever more resemble [ … ]
The human being throughout his existence has been witness and protagonist of the struggle between good and evil. History illustrates from different perspectives how man has evolved and has become a being of knowledge, ideals and interests. When these are not fulfilled or satisfied, different mechanisms are established to obtain [ … ]
The human being throughout his existence has been witness and protagonist of the struggle between good and evil. History illustrates from different perspectives how man has evolved and has become a being of knowledge, ideals and interests. When these are not fulfilled or satisfied, different mechanisms are established to obtain [ … ]
A lack of due diligence, corruption, and a disregard for indigenous rights and the environment have characterized many Chinese infrastructure projects in the region. On December 7, a few days after the third China-Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Forum, the Chinese Foreign Ministry released the China-CELAC Joint [ … ]
Nicaragua’s diplomatic flip from Taiwan to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), announced on December 9, was almost inevitable, but it will accelerate a worrisome trend in parts of the Western Hemisphere closest to the U.S. to a China-funded form of authoritarian populism. That growing threat, in a part of [ … ]
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