EPA/Russian Defence Ministry
The Russian president is proving he has learned what America didn’t: to quit while ahead.
Syrians seeking protection.
UNHCR/I Prickett
Refugees will continue to flee the war-torn country and Europe must do more to help.
EPA/Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik
The Russian president’s announcement he will be pulling troops out of Syria has taken everyone by surprise.
Jamala has been chosen to represent Ukraine at the 2016 Eurovision contest with her song ‘1944’.
Inna Sokolovksa/EPA
Charged with collaboration with the Nazis, in 1944, 240,000 Crimean Tartars were deported to Soviet Central Asia.
Laying the groundwork. Workers prepare for this week’s meeting.
EPA/ROLEX DELA PENA/POOL
The world economy needs China, but Beijing has needs of its own. No wonder the leadership is putting so much effort into a year of negotiation.
On hold?
shutterstock.com
Geopolitics – from the US to Syria to Iran – are at the heart of Saudi Arabia and Russia’s decision to freeze oil production at January levels.
Cine Petro Atletica, once Huambo’s finest cinema, was destroyed during fierce fighting in Angola’s bloody civil war.
Reuters/John Chiahemen MH/WS
Apartheid South Africa started a war in which it could not maintain a strategic advantage. It misread the quest for national liberation and international opinion that undermined its effectiveness.
The Free Syrian Army standing lookout.
Abdalrhman Ismail/Reuters
On February 11 a Syrian ceasefire was signed in Munich. Few are optimistic it will hold. Why? Because, argues one Middle Eastern scholar, world leaders are ignoring key realities.
Federal computer systems are under near-constant attack from hackers and cyberthieves. Is our information protected well enough?
Colin
Federal networks need stronger cybersecurity measures than most organizations, but have not yet gotten the budget or staffing commitments that would protect them properly.
They’re out there somewhere.
Reuters/Yannis Behrakis
NATO has announced a new mission to monitor people-smugglers in the Aegean – but something smells fishy.
It’s complicated.
Reuters/RIA Novosti
Russia and Iran have always treated each other well when it suits them, but in hard times, their relationship can get very rocky indeed.
Aksana Tsishyna / Shutterstock.com
Even leaving glass bottles out for collection carries a social stigma.
A worker at a Lukoil site in Siberia.
REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
When you pick apart the strange economics of global energy markets, it becomes clear how the incredible power of Riyadh can take other countries to the brink.
Can Turkey still straddle two worlds?
Reuters
Turkey is the one of the U.S.’s most important allies in the Mideast, but recent actions such as the downing of a Russian fighter raise important questions about its reliability as a partner.
Marina Litvinenko has called for action against Russia over her husband’s death.
PA/Stefan Rousseau
Putin’s personal involvement is speculative, but report findings will cast a long shadow over Anglo-Russian relations.
Always watching.
EPA/Facundo Arrizabalaga
A public inquiry says the murder of the former Russian spy was probably approved by Vladimir Putin. So how will the UK react?
Steag/VGB Power Tech GmbH
The cyberattack that brought down a city’s power supply in Ukraine is a cautionary tale for what lies ahead.
A protest flag depicts Jarosław Kaczyński as Poland’s puppet master.
Reuters/Kacper Pempel
The new, nationalist government is cutting ties in all directions, but it could soon run out of options.
Watching Putin’s end-of-year news conference in Sevastopol, Crimea.
Reuters/Pavel Rebrov
The “hot” phase of the Ukraine conflict may have passed, but Moscow and Kiev are hardly warming to each other.
Reuters/Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik/Kremlin
The past year hasn’t worked out so well for Russia – and the Kremlin’s ability to weather the storms ahead is looking shaky.