MAIN EVENTS:
(November 9-13)
MIDDLE EAST
- United States announced is planning to sell advanced defense capabilities to United Arab Emirates, a longtime vital S. security partner.
- The United States imposed new sanctions targeting Syria’s oil sector.
- S has called for greater cooperation among Middle East countries to counter the threat from Iran.
- Israel and Lebanon resumed US-mediated talks over their disputed Mediterranean Sea border.
- Iraq has renewed its invitation to Saudi companies to invest in the country’s oil and gas sector.
- Saudi Arabia and Iraq agreed to continue joint cooperation in confronting terrorism.
- Saudi Aramco -among China’s largest crude suppliers- announced it wants to sell natural gas to China.
- In Saudi Arabia, a bomb blast hit a World War I commemoration ceremony attended by Western diplomats, as Saudi Arabia prepares for the G20 leaders’ summit later this month.
EURASIA
- Armenia has signed a peace deal with Azerbaijan and Russia, bringing an end to fighting over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Violent protests broke out in the Armenian capital after the announcement, demanding PM’s resignation.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that “attempts to exert foreign pressure” in Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Moldova are “unacceptable.”
CENTRAL ASIA
- Experts warned that if instability spread through Central Asia – as it seems after Kyrgyzstan´s protests eruption following Kyrgyzstan’s disputed election- “the strategic, energy, political and security interest of China and Russia will be affected”.
EUROPE
- Greece and Egypt -that signed a maritime deal setting out respective exclusive economic zones- announced they wanted US President-elect Joe Biden’s to play a more active role in attempting to calm growing tensions in the eastern Mediterranean.
- Sanctions that would hinder one of Russia’s most important projects in Europe, the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline, have been included in the annual U.S. defense policy bill.
- Thousands of people marched in Tbilisi, Georgia, to reject the result of an election (supposedly fraudulent) that gave the governing party the right to form the country’s next government.
AFRICA
- Russia will open a naval base in Sudan, which will be the first for Russia in Africa since the Cold War.
- US started with Sudan discussions to remove Khartoum from the state sponsor of terrorism list.
- Attacks by armed groups have increased in Mozambique over the last few weeks.
SOUTH AMERICA
- Venezuela government visited Russia to “deepen strategic alliances”.
Tags: geopolitics, geopolitical, geopolitical conflicts, geopolitical facts, conflicts, energy, strategic resources, balancing, growing rivalry, rivalry.
