Ahmed Diab | 26 Aug 2020
The former Soviet Union posed the most prominent challenge to the West and the US in particular at the ideological and military levels, since World War II until the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. However, from that moment on, strategic circles began to nominate China as the threat that would endanger the future of US power in the world. For more than a year, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has demanded that the alliance assume a greater political role in world affairs, and even help countries in the Indian and Pacific oceans compete with the rise of China.
Ahmed Diab | 27 Jul 2020
In light of the facts and complicated conditions that will result from the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, new international and regional inclinations and policies are emerging regarding the future of that country. Peace talks between the Taliban Movement and the Afghan government are expected to be complicated and protracted, probably extending for years. In case a political settlement is not reached between the Afghan government and the Movement, the US withdrawal could lead to the eruption of a large-scale civil war, some of whose protagonists would be supported by regional and international powers such as Russia and China which have political, economic and security interests that converge at times and conflict at others in Afghanistan. Some neighbouring countries such as Iran, Pakistan and India also have conflicting interests. The influence of India and Pakistan over actors in Afghanistan is well known. Besides, the two countries have mechanisms and means to influence the state of affairs in Afghanistan.
EPC | 20 Jul 2020
It has become clear that the most important controversy on the threshold of the US presidential elections concerns the issue of the extension of the embargo on arms trade with Iran. International sanctions provided for by the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) had imposed an embargo on arms trade with Iran. However, the nuclear deal (which is in turn an international document recognized by the UNSC) provides for the termination of the said embargo in October 2020. Thus, the issue of lifting the embargo has become the subject of disagreement between the US and its former partners in the nuclear deal.
Ahmed Askar | 19 Jul 2020
After its relative absence until recently, Africa has become increasingly important for Germany. A number of major shifts have played a role in the continent’s rise to the top of the priorities of Germany’s political policy agenda, mainly the outbreak of the refugee crisis and the migration of Africans to Europe in 2015, in addition to the rise in the activity of terrorism and organized crime networks in Africa, and Berlin’s desire to play a greater role in the continent. This has driven Germany to pay more attention to Africa. This was manifested at several levels in light of Germany’s growing interests and motives with respect to Africa. This would enhance Germany’s future influence in the continent.
Mohamed Fayez Farahat | 09 Jun 2020
This paper deals with the rise of the concept of the Indo-Pacific as a new theatre for the interactions of international politics. It portrays the main drivers of the development of this concept and its security, political and strategic dimensions and implications, both at present and in the future. It also analyzes the nature of the general features of regional and international policies in the Indo-Pacific region and the extent of its actual and potential impact on the Arabian Gulf region.
EPC | 20 May 2020
In October 2020, the ban on trade in conventional weapons with Iran imposed under article 5 of Annex II of the nuclear agreement — which prohibits all countries from trading in such weapons with Iran — will come to an end. The ban was scheduled to last for five years from the day that the agreement came into effect, ending in October of this year. The various parties to the agreement are ramping up their political maneuvers, however, as the US administration and the remaining parties to the agreement appear to hold incompatible positions regarding the end of the embargo.
Mohamed Fayez Farahat | 13 May 2020
While the Chinese-US relations have been characterized by a conflictual nature since the arrival of the Donald Trump administration in January 2017, the current crisis, that had started to take shape between both countries in light of the COVID-19 virus crisis, is perhaps the most serious in the history of the relations between both countries. It involves the risks of building an international anti-China bloc if the US manages to hold China responsible for the synthetic (artificial) origin of the virus and its “intentional laziness” in warning countries of the world of the consequences of this disease and to convince the largest number possible of countries of this assumption. This would have serious strategic implications for China at more than one level.
EPC | 19 Feb 2020
Europe's rift over Iran's nuclear deal continues to persist. While Britain and France take hardline positions, Germany and the EU foreign policy team continue to show understanding of the Iranian stances. However, this rift does not mean that the Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), will remain unchanged. Other parties to the agreement might follow the U.S. path and withdraw from the deal, without necessarily leading to the collapse of the deal or putting the Iran's nuclear program back on the UN Security Council's table. Contrary to the Iranian consensus on how to deal with the United States, the Iranian regime appears divided over its relationship with Europe and how to approach the Europeans, amidst a steady decline in Iranian-European relations.
Amr Abdel-Aty | 04 Feb 2020
President Donald Trump’s order to assassinate Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, on January 3, 2020 has reignited debate between Congress and the President as to who should have the final say in the use of US military power abroad. The debate escalated when the Democrats won a majority in the House of Representatives in the congressional mid-term elections on November 6, 2018, following which they have taken various steps, with the support of several Republican lawmakers, to restore the constitutional power of the legislature to declare war and to control the movement of US troops abroad.
EPC | 02 Feb 2020
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin announced a new package of sanctions against Iran. The new wave of sanctions affected the steel products sector, and the largest companies in this field, along with some security and military leaders. The announcement of the new packages of sanctions coincides with a new wave of political debate in Washington about the feasibility of the sanctions on Iran, and whether these sanctions are actually capable of achieving their main goal, which is forcing Iran to a come back to the dialogue table by breaking the backbone of this country’s, and exacerbating levels of popular discontent to force the Iranian regime stop its intransigence.