Asia

The ongoing war in the Middle East for more than a month now has kept the world on edge. In fact, at this stage Israel is conducting a massive combined military operation, combining ground, air and sea attacks to completely eliminate Hamas militants, commanders and political leadership in the Gaza Strip. In reality, of the nearly 11,000 Palestinian deaths in Gaza as of 9 November, according to Turkish President R. Erdoğan, 70% are civilians (including children, women and the elderly). In other words, the Israeli military operation “Deadly Attack” has not yet achieved its goal…

On November 8, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Seoul after the G7 foreign ministers meeting in Tokyo. It was the first visit to Seoul by the US Secretary of State since the Yoon Suk-yeol government took office in May 2022. Blinken last visited Seoul in March 2021 to attend a summit of the two countries’ foreign and defense ministers, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s visit in 2023 came soon after, but we’ll discuss it and its outcome separately…

On 21 November, the leaders of Russia and Tajikistan – V. Putin and E. Rakhmon – met in Moscow. During the meeting, they assessed the thirty-year experience of relations between the two countries, counting from the date of signing an agreement on friendship, co-operation and mutual assistance between the two states in 1993. The leaders of Russia and Tajikistan noted the “friendly and businesslike atmosphere” in the relations between the two countries, describing bilateral contacts as “unbreakable alliance between Russia and Tajikistan” According to Tajik President Rakhmon…