Author: Philip Walsh

Donald Trump on the sidelines in France where he attended the re-opening of a change of direction of U.S. involvement in helping NATO and Ukraine. This was also confirmed by the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaking at the OSCE conference in Malta. The Russian take the signaling of the European and U.S. as concerning. Trump is perceived as the rising star on the foreign affair domain as a tough negotiator. The toughness becomes evident with the former Lithuanian prime minister becoming the first dedicated defense commissioner this month, tasked with turbocharging Europe’s defense industry and the stuttering push to…

Reasons varied: From stabilising demand post-Covid to stricter visa norms to more overseas options. After driving the post-pandemic rebound in international student numbers on American campuses, India is now seeing a sharp downturn, with US State Department data showing a 38 per cent drop in F-1 student visas issued to Indians in the first nine months of 2024 as compared to the same period last year. An analysis by The Indian Express of monthly non-immigrant visa reports available on the Bureau of Consular Affairs’ website shows that F-1 visas issued to Indian students have hit their lowest post-pandemic level. From January to…

In a sprawling criminal investigation, all roads lead to the European Parliament’s subcommittee on human rights. Maria Arena is blaming her secretary. The Socialist MEP, who chairs the European Parliament’s human rights committee, accepted a trip to Qatar — and then failed to declare properly that the Qatari government paid for her flights and hotel, POLITICO can reveal. Arena has admitted the administrative misdemeanor, but blamed it on her office assistant who she said did not complete the paperwork as required. The senior MEP could now face sanctions including a financial penalty of up to €10,140 or being banned from…

Suspects allegedly interfered with EU Sakharov Prize nominations to help foreign governments, leaked police files suggest. The EU’s highest honor for human rights work was targeted by an allegedly corrupt network operating on behalf of foreign governments at the heart of the European Parliament, according to a cache of leaked documents. The annual Sakharov Prize was among the aspects of parliamentary work mentioned in a file where one of the key suspects logged activities that were allegedly part of the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the EU’s Parliament. The award, which hands €50,000 to an individual or group that has…

It was bitter cold, but I don’t remember freezing or being cold. Hemingway wrote that the air was so cold when you took a breath it was like drinking water. We travelled by train, then we walked through the cold streets, no bus was running, we had to hustle to catch the last ride up the mountain, then it was up to the mountain, bundled up in two thick woolen blankets with the snow showering us. It was warm looking out of the peep hole I created, flying up the mountains sitting on the last ride of the day. The…

Donald Trump today met with executives at Blue Origin—the space company owned and operated by Jeff Bezos. Trump met with David Limp, the company’s CEO, and Megan Mitchell, its vice president of government relations, after an early afternoon press conference on “border security and migrant crime” held by Trump in Austin, Texas, at Million Air, a private aircraft terminal housed within Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The moment was captured by Alex Brandon, a staff photographer for Associated Press, who first reported the news. The meeting comes on the same day that The Washington Post—also owned by Jeff Bezos—killed a presidential endorsement of Kamala Harris written…

London 30 October (20). In 2014, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula. That same year, Russian special operation forces captured Donetsk and Luhansk, two of the main cities in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine and created puppet pro-Russian regimes there to further destabilize Ukraine. Media, academic and general coverage of the War on the Doorsteps of Europe received shock, disbelief and a bizarre debate on the greatness of the Russian Federation. In particularly a German article received my attention which ought to be considered. The Russian Federation is morally bankrupt. Regardless of the BRICS meetings and the self-flagellation of its…

The Ukrainian project “I Want to Live” on Oct. 23 called on North Korean soldiers to surrender to Ukrainian forces in a new Korean-language video. Launched in September 2022 by Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence, the 24-hour “I Want to Live” hotline helps Russian soldiers willingly surrender themselves or their units to the Ukrainian army. The Russian military is promised that after surrender, they will be held in compliance with the Geneva Conventions. “You must not die senselessly in a foreign land. You must not repeat the fate of hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers who will never return home!” the…

For many years, Tajikistan has been gravely affected by drug trafficking. At least 15-20 tons of opium and between 75 and 80 metric tons of heroin are smuggled into the country each year from Afghanistan either for local consumption or for transfer to Russia and Europe. Despite an official Tajik government policy to fight illicit drug trafficking in cooperation with foreign governments and international organizations, trafficking continues to increase. The volume of drug transit through Tajikistan is now equivalent to 30 percent of the country’s GDP. So far, the success of domestic Tajik policies and international assistance has been minimal. Trafficking is a product of numerous complex…

As Sri Lanka gears up for the 2024 presidential elections, the political landscape is alive with a peculiar sort of buzz. The National People’s Power (NPP), formerly known as the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), is making waves with Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) at the helm. The JVP, sporting a rebranded logo – the Compass – seems to have mastered the art of political chameleonism. But beware, dear voter, for while the façade may change, the essence remains troublingly the same. Let’s first examine the heart of the matter – the economy. Sri Lanka’s economic woes are no secret. The island…