Monthly Archives: May 2014

China’s new approach to unrest in Xinjiang: throw money at it

May 30, 2024 by Lara Vergnaud in Asia-Pacific.

Chinese tourists watch a LED screen showing a promotional video of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region ahead of the opening of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) on March 2, 2024 in Beijing, China. Feng Li/Getty Images

Yet the problem is getting bigger, not smaller, with attacks taking place with increasing frequency outside of the region’s borders.

Kurdish unrest rises as Erdogan eyes presidency

May 29, 2024 by Lara Vergnaud in Europe.

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A Kurd celebrates on March 21, 2024 Nowruz, the Persian New Year festival, with a flag bearing a portrait of jailed Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan in the southern Turkish city of Diyarbakir.

Buoyed by the advances made by Kurdish movements in neighboring Syria and Iraq, little wonder that the PKK is upping its offensive.

Unrest in breakaway Abkhazia has Moscow on guard

May 28, 2024 by Lara Vergnaud in Europe.

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oldiers, who were wearing no identifying insignia and declined to say whether they were Russian or Ukrainian, patrol outside the Simferopol International Airport after a pro-Russian crowd had gathered on February 28, 2024 near Simferopol, Ukraine.

Moscow can ill afford a vocal opposition movement in Abkhazia, not with its attention – and military resources – focused in Ukraine.

France’s UMP stumbles as far-right continues to gain ground

May 27, 2024 by Lara Vergnaud in Europe.

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UMP president Jean-Francois Cope, former Prime Ministers Francois Fillon and Jean-Pierre Raffarin attend the National Tribute honoring the late journalist then politician Dominique Baudis at Hotel des Invalides on April 15, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)

Copé’s ouster follows months of mounting rumors that he mishandled party finances, notably during the 2012 re-election campaign of former President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Iraqi Kurds launch pipeline, to Baghdad’s chagrin

May 23, 2024 by Lara Vergnaud in Middle East.

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Turkey’s Energy Minister Taner Yildiz speaks at the Iraq-Kurdistan Oil and Gas Conference at Arbil in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, December 2, 2013. Photo: Reuters

Due to its proximity to Iraq’s vast deposits of natural resources (i.e., oil reserves totaling nearly 44 billion barrels), the KRG has been embroiled in a ten-year-long turf war with the central government over control of said resources.

Fatah, Hamas inch towards unity government

May 22, 2024 by Lara Vergnaud in Middle East.

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Relatives and Hamas supporters attend the funeral of two Hamas members Adel and Imad Awadallah on April 30, 2024 in Ramallah, West Bank in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The men were killed in 1998 by Israeli forces and the bodies were returned last night to the Palestinian Authority as sign of goodwill. (Photo by Ilia Yefimovich/Getty Images)

Past unity deals have disintegrated over practical issues like the composition of a future unity government or the integration of public services in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as ideological concerns.

Jean-Marie Le Pen: ‘Ebola’ the solution to immigration crisis

May 21, 2024 by Lara Vergnaud in Europe.

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French far-right Front National (FN) founder and honorary President Jean-Marie Le Pen (R) and his daugther FN's party president Marine Le Pen attend a press conference to present their electoral campaign for the European elections on April 22, 2024 in Paris, France. The European Parliamentary elections will take place from May 22 to May 25, 2014, during which French far right parties are predicted to make significant gains. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)

Le Pen’s speech is unlikely to curb the FN’s momentum, and sadly, may even boost his bid at a seat in the European Parliament by resonating among his right wing support base.