Recently, on 25^th July 2024, the Washington Post published an article “How four U.S. presidents unleashed economic warfare across the globe”, in which some interesting statistics were noted. Firstly, the US imposes three times as many sanctions as any other country (or group of countries) on earth. Secondly, that around one third of all countries on earth are on the receiving end of some form of US sanctions, and that the effectiveness of such sanctions has been, to say the least, limited, despite being the “go to” option of the US government for inflicting punishment on countries from Iran to Cuba, Russia to Myanmar.

At present, international relations are in the process of restructuring: the weight and influence of the Western powers led by the United States is really falling and the positions of those who are usually referred to as the countries of the Global South are strengthening. It is quite remarkable that, despite the obviousness of these phenomena, they are gradually beginning to be accepted by states that had previously resisted recognizing these processes.

Political uncertainty looms large over the South Asian region. Governments in all the regional countries are suspicious about their future. A massive uprising in Bangladesh and the consequent ouster of the country’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina Wajid has significantly impacted the neighboring countries. This inculcated fear among the governments of the neighboring countries. In Pakistan, the government was already facing public backlash due to the alleged sham elections.

We have written many times before about how North Korea is increasing its military capabilities. This process is going on all the time, but today we are going to talk not about tests of new equipment, but about a much more important thing, because it is one thing to test an experimental prototype, and another thing to set up the mass production and equip troops.

It is time for Russia to fully mobilize against the nagging threat posed by the NATO-backed Ukrainian state. President Putin’s pragmatic approach to keeping NATO off Russia’s borders will undoubtedly be shifted given the recent Ukraine Army incursions at Kursk. Many of us suspected it would come to this. Russia must crush the Kyiv-NATO experiment down the tubes.

According to US media, Washington has approved $20 billion+ in weapon sales to Israel. The modern weaponry includes up to 50 F-15 fighter jets, up to 30 modern medium-range air-to-air missiles, tactical vehicles and a large number of tank and mortar shells. By giving Israel another carte blanche to continue the genocidal war in the Gaza Strip, the current Joe Biden administration has made it clear to the world that the US is also a direct participant in the massacre of Palestinians.

Recently in world media covering Africa a lot of information has surfaced about French President Emmanuel Macron’s intentions to reformat Paris’ Africa policy to offset the negative consequences of its numerous failures. This was caused by an unprecedented increase in anti-French sentiment in the francophone countries of the continent and a continuous series of coups that swept the «backyard» of the former metropolis.

For the past several years, the Middle East has been China’s key trading hub, not least because of more than 70 per cent of the oil that Beijing imports from here. Between 2017 and 2022, China’s bilateral trade with this region jumped from US$262 billion to US$507 billion. In 2022 alone, the region saw its trade with China jumping by more than 27 per cent. This was the largest increase in China’s trade compared with other regions, such as the ASEAN.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgiа Meloni paid a visit to China from July 27 to 31, serving as a suitable occasion to discuss both some aspects of bilateral relations between these countries and the geopolitical background against which such a remarkable event took place.

Recently, Israel assassinated Hamas’ Political Bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. This alleged assassination by Israel has raised multiple questions. The assassination has been followed by the Beijing Declaration – which aims to promote unity between Palestinian entities, a framework initiated by China. This frustrated the United States.

According to the assessment of the OXFAM International Foundation, which deals with the social contradictions between rich and poor, the biggest and most dangerous topic for all mankind is the explosive growth of inequality. Evidence shows that today’s labour struggles in a wide range of countries, whatever their slogans, are ultimately attributable primarily to the widening income gap between rich and poor.

Since the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, on 15^th August 2021, world leaders have shown great concerns about women’s rights in the country. The interim Afghan Taliban government holds that the women’s rights issues are the internal issues of the country and the world has no right to meddle in its internal matters. However, Afghanistan is a signatory of multiple international treaties that bound it to provide equal rights to women and ensure human rights.