Belgian Courts Begin Trying 2016 Terror Attacks Perpetrators
Belgium’s largest-ever criminal trial began December 5 as the country seeks to bring to justice the perpetrators of the March 22, 2016, Brussels suicide bombings, NPR reports.
Read MoreBelgium’s largest-ever criminal trial began December 5 as the country seeks to bring to justice the perpetrators of the March 22, 2016, Brussels suicide bombings, NPR reports.
Read MoreFollowing Russia’s most aggressive attack against Ukraine in over a month, a missile landed in Polish territory on November 15, leaving two people dead, writes CNN. This has led to debate over the origin of the missile, which landed outside of a rural Polish village approximately four miles from the Ukrainian border.
Read MoreProviding troops to the Russian cause upholds the Belarusian state’s dedication to Russia, and Lukashenko’s fear of Western intervention, particularly as NATO heavily monitors the war.
Read MoreIn the midst of the ongoing war in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has formally requested to have his country’s application for NATO membership fast-tracked, reports Politico. After months of consideration by Ukraine and its western allies, it seems that the war-torn country has finally decided where it wants to be in the future.
Read MoreIn its most recent move to counter Russian military buildup near the Ukrainian borders, the United States has pledged to end support for Nord Stream 2, a German-controlled gas pipeline project connecting Russia and Germany, stressing U.S.-German unity if Russia invades Ukraine, Reuters reports. The declaration came during a joint U.S.-German press conference on Monday, February 7.
Read MoreThis past week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Europe to meet with partners and adversaries to discuss the growing threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to the Military Times, Russia has built up nearly 120,000 troops as well as conventional military equipment along its border with Ukraine and Belarus, signaling a potential invasion in the coming weeks.
Read MoreAcross the European Union, natural gas prices are peaking at levels not seen in the past twenty years, causing growing concern by energy policy experts for the implications across Europe. With COVID-19 lockdowns drawing to a close across Scandinavia and Western Europe, the imminent surge in demand for natural gas as winter nears is placing many EU states in a precarious domestic and strategic position, reports The New York Times.
Read MoreOn September 24, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey will consider buying a second S-400 missile system from Russia, drawing international scrutiny. This announcement concerned United States defense officials, particularly following the events of 2020, in which Turkey was kicked out of NATO’s F-35 program for similar actions, reports ABC News.
Read MorePresident Joe Biden has foregone the precedent of his predecessors by becoming the first U.S. president to formally recognize the mass killings of over one million Armenians as genocide. The acknowledgement comes over a century after the Ottoman Turks perpetrated the mass killings, and in spite of possible complications for U.S.-Turkey relations.
Read MoreThe Russia-Ukraine conflict continues to escalate, with a new buildup of Russian troops and military hardware on the shared border of the two countries. Strains began Russo-Ukrainian relations after President Vladimir Putin annexed and seized control of Crimea in 2014, increasing Russian military presence in the area. This, along with Putin’s support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, has caused a seven-year-long conflict between the Ukrainian army and Russian-backed separatists that has claimed at least 14,000 lives, according to CBS News.
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