Category: Analytics

Israeli-Lebanese confrontation on the Eastern Mediterranean shelf

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Oleksiy  Volovych The natural gas and oil deposits in the Lebanese energy basin in the Eastern Mediterranean, discovered by the American oil and gas company Noble Energy Mediterranean in 2009–2010, have become almost at once exploration and development target for the countries of the sub-region — Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Cyprus, Greece and Turkey. In 2010, the US Geological Survey previously estimated reserves of hydrocarbons in the Levantine Basin at 3.45 trillion cubic metres  of gas and 1.7 billion barrels of oil. According to other data, the potential of the region…

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To Bomb Or Not to Bomb?

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Iran shot down an American UAV in the Persian Gulf   According to the Iran Daily of June 21, 2019, on 19th June the Air Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of the Islamic Republic of Iran shot down a US UAV in the Kouh-e Mobarak district, near the city of Jask, the southern province of Hormozgan. After an inspection of the wreckage, the Iranian side identified the drone as the MQ-4C Triton of the US Navy, which is a modification of the RQ-4 Global Hawk. Iran’s Supreme National…

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The State Visit of China’s Leader to North Korea as a Way of Pressure on the United States

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Serhiy Polyovyk The attention of European analysts who keep a close watch at China’s activity, was drawn to China’s leader Xi Jinping’s unexpected visit to North Korea. And it’s not accidentally, because Europeans are alarmed by its aggressive policy of gradual capturing key infrastructure of European countries. In particular, the Strategic Initiative “One Belt, One Road” provides for the creation of appropriate conditions for the promotion of Chinese interests, namely, its capital, people, technology in one and only direction — from China to the West. And the fate of the…

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Ukraine Is lagging Behind Its Competitors in Relations with China

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Comparative Analysis of China’s Relations with Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia in the Context of the “One Belt, One Road” Initiative   The global goal of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative has always been establishment of logistics routes to the markets for Chinese goods in the EU. In this context, the leadership of the PRC should pay particular attention to transit countries, through which, in fact, go the routes to Europe. In their turn, transit countries should be interested in establishing such cooperation, hoping for at least multibillion investments…

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St. Petersburg Economic Forum – 2019

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Victor Hvozd Will Russia’s Hopes for China Come True?   The leadership of the Russian Federation continues to take active steps to expand the circle of its foreign partners, which seeks to compensate for the USA and EU’s political and economic sanctions. In this regard, importance is attached to holding various international events to demonstrate the RF’s “attractiveness” and benefits of cooperation with it in the trade, economic, investment and other spheres. In particular, last week, the 23rd St. Petersburg International Economic Forum – 2019 – one of the most…

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Current Geopolitical Factors of the Development of Relations Between the EU and China

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Serhiy Polyovyk The geopolitical situation in Europe and in the world keeps getting aggravated, and experts believe that for quite objective reasons. Such as: the relationship between the ambitious US administration headed by President D. Trump and the ambitious China –  the world’s largest economic competitor of the United States; unpredictability in the postmodern world of intentions and actions of the nuclear Russia, which is forced to take measures for its existence and acceptable positioning in the system of new geopolitical priorities; significant weakening of the unity of the European…

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What Should We do Next?

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Suggestions for Action Strategy   Victor Hvozd Taking into consideration national interests, the main tasks of our state at the current historical stage are to restore its territorial integrity and to practically realize the European choice. As the positions of the new Ukrainian leadership show, these tasks are immutable and of a priority nature. In fact, this is the first case in our newest history, when the change of power has not caused radical changes in Ukraine’s foreign policy, transforming it into a true European state. Thus, despite any transformations of power in the “old” and “new” Europe, which are sometimes accompanied by severe political battles, its countries stick to European civilization values. At the…

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European Parliament 2019–2024. Provisional results

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Roman Kot May 23–26, 2019, voters of the 28 EU Member States elected a new European Parliament. From the very beginning, the election campaign was subject to special and even excessive attention (as compared with the voters’ traditional perceptions of this institution as a secondary one). Several factors contributed to this: the growing popularity of populists all over Europe, the decline in trusting traditional European-wide political forces: the “European People’s Party” (EPP) and, in particular, the “Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats” (S&D), and greater attention to problems of ecology. All these trends were manifested during the voting and in general, with…

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Russia’s Policy in Libya After 2011

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Russia’s Rivalry with the West Is Clearly Visible in Libya   Oleksiy Volovych Despite all the adventurous attempts by the Kremlin to get a foothold in Libya and make that country “pro-Russian”, this will hardly happen in the foreseeable future, as the economic opportunities of the current Russia and its geopolitical weight are much weaker compared to the capabilities of the USSR. On the other hand, Libya is currently the object of geopolitical interests of such influential states as the US, France, Italy, the KSA, the OAE, Qatar and Turkey, with which Russia cannot compete due to its limited financial resources. The…

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The Government Crisis in Austria on the Eve of the Elections to the European Parliament

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The official policy of the formally neutral Austria has long been under the watchful eye of European partners   Serhiy Polyovyk Analysts, observing the changes in the situation on the eve of the next election to the European Parliament, are forced to take into account the government crisis in a neutral country like Austria. Large volumes of sensitive material about the two years ago scandal, analytical studies on the reasons for the publication of the information discrediting Austrian politicians, which had led to the collapse of the government coalition and early elections in Austria, the key figures in the Austrian top business that…

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