The Global Agora

What does French President Emmanuel Macron mean when he says that Europeans should work on proposals to build a new security and stability order in Europe? These words are somewhat similar to those the West hears from Kremlin. But is there any connection? I talked to Georgina Wright , a Senior Fellow and Director of Institut Montaigne’s Europe Program. We talked about Paris-Moscow relations, what...

The world tennis number one Novak Djokovic was deported from Australia on January 16 and that means he is unable to defend his Australian Open title from the previous year. For now he also lost the chance to become the record Grand Slam holder. The Serbian tennis player is unvaccinated but he received a medical exemption to enter Australia. But in the end his visa was revoked twice and the fe...

The US-Russia bilateral meeting, NATO-Russia Council meeting and the OSCE talks. Can a flurry of diplomatic activities change something, or will Russia invade Ukraine? How much should we be concerned also about the possibility of bigger conflict between NATO and Russia? I talked to  John Deni , Research Professor of Joint, Interagency, Intergovernmental, and Multinational (JIIM) Security Stud...

Are you afraid of a civil war in America? "I don't fear civil war so much, as I fear more of the riots, more of the kind of violence we saw on the Capitol." This is what Professor Emerita of Communication at Saint Louis University Diana Carlin told me. We discussed what happened on January 6th, 2021 when a mob of supporters of at that time President Donald Trump attacked the United States Cap...

Every forecast is tricky but we are trying anyway. Marc Julienne is Head of China Research within the Centre for Asian Studies of the French Institute of International relations (IFRI) and we discussed what to expect from communist regime in Beijing in 2022 especially on the international scene. What will be the main trends in the US-China and in the EU-China relations? How much is Dr. Julienne co...

On December 20 Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová traveled to military base Ādaži in Latvia. I also had a chance to visit NATO Enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) multinational battalion that consists of a framework nation Canada and of Albania, Czech Republic, Iceland, Italy, Montenegro, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. The Slovak contingent is currently made of 135 soldiers. On the occasion of P...

"You are entering this Panthéon because although you were born American there is no one more French than you". This is what President Emmanuel Macron said when he paid a tribute to Josephine Baker as she was inducted into France's Panthéon in Paris at the end of November. She becomes the first Black woman and just the sixth woman being immortalized there. Baker was born in St. Louis,...

After 16 years it's clear that the German Chancellor can be also... a man. Christian Democrat Angela Merkel is gone and Germany and the world have some questions. What to expect from the traffic light coalition led by Olaf Scholz that consists of his SPD, Greens and liberal FDP? Will Scholz be able to manage his government and what kind of role he could play on the European and global scene? In Se...

The aim of the UK COP26 Presidency was to keep alive the hope of limiting the rise in global temperature to 1.5C, and the Glasgow Climate Pact does just that. Combined with increased ambition and action from countries, 1.5C remains in sight, but it will only be achieved if every country delivers on what they have pledged. This is what the Glasgow Climate Pact from 2021 United Nations Climate Chang...

On November 24th, at least 27 people, including women and children, died trying to cross the English Channel in a small boat. A Kurdish woman from northern Iraq Maryam Nuri Mohamed Amin has become the first victim of this tragedy to be named. “Her story is the same as everyone else – she was looking for a better life," said one of her relatives for the Guardian. Was this tragedy preventable?...

Presidential and legislative elections in Libya should take place on December 24th. While we read headlines about candidates such as Saif Gaddafi, the problems run deeper. At least according to Jalel Harchaoui who is a Senior Fellow at the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime where he concentrates his work on North Africa. He emphasizes that the legal framework for the...

On one hand this is a hybrid attack against the European Union from Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko with Russia's shadow looming over the situation. On the other hand, this is also a humanitarian crisis that shows that the EU asylum system hardly works. Thousands of migrants and refugees are stranded along the EU's borders with Belarus affecting Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. Does it have a q...

Is this a make or break moment? As the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference better known as COP26 just started and will take place in Glasgow till November 12th, the question is if political leaders will use the event to effectively move forward when addressing the climate emergency. "This is a chance for all these countries to show leadership, this is the point where they have to stand u...

Bond. James Bond, Part 2. Yes, this is the second part of my conversation about James Bond's past, present and future with Martin D. Brown , Associate Professor of International History at Richmond University in London who is also a bondologist. The first part was published on October 19th. Bond was called a blunt instrument by his novelist father Ian Fleming. Would this blunt...

Bond. James Bond. If you listen to my podcast The Global Agora regularly, you already know that I discuss a variety of things with various experts. And it's no time to die, it's time to debate the James Bond franchise. I have to admit that I am a big fan of 007 and I am happy to welcome Martin D. Brown , Associate Professor of International History at Richmond University in London. And he is also...

Conservative MP Sir David Amess was murdered on October 15th. I tried to look at this case with the assistance of Shaun McDaid . He is a Senior Lecturer in the Division of Criminology, Politics and Sociology at the University of Huddersfield. Dr. McDaid's research primarily relates to political violence and its prevention and post-conflict transitions. We  talked more broadly about the threat...

,,The United States is very concerned by the People’s Republic of China’s provocative military activity near Taiwan, which is destabilising, risks miscalculations, and undermines regional peace and stability,” US state department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement . What is behind the record number of Chinese military planes entering Taiwan's air defense identification zone? China watcher, ed...

Is Brexit going badly? According to a recent YouGov poll , 53 percent of Britons think so. But does it mean that they want to rejoin the EU? I talked to Martin Farr , a Senior Lecturer in Contemporary British History at Newcastle University. We also discussed how to put the current fuel crisis in the UK into a historical perspective and what's next for the Labour...

A new poll conducted by the European Council on Foreign Relations ( ECFR ) shows that EU citizens view Germany as a trustworthy, pro-European power and Angela Merkel’s approach of searching for compromises between competing interests is a major source of Berlin’s positive image. But, of course, there is a but. Merkel is leaving politics. What is the most positive and the most negative aspect of he...

We're gonna have to spend years looking at this to really work out what the hell just happened with CDU/CSU. This is how Alexander Clarkson , Lecturer in German, European and International Studies at King's College London, sees the situation just before the election in Germany. Looking at the polls , it seems Social Democrats might get between 25-27 percent of votes, while Christian Democrat will...

When was the last time the Labour Party in Norway didn't win the parliamentary election? In 1924. And the series of victories didn't stop on September 13. While the Labour Party won only 26,3 percent of votes, which is historically one of the weakest results, they will still have 48 seats in the parliament and everybody expects that they will establish a governing coalition with the Soci...

Is Pope Francis happy with his job? And even if he is, he is also 84, which means he is not the youngest. Are there any indications that he may resign? About Francis' papacy, I talked to John Allen , the editor of Crux , and a senior Vatican analyst for CNN. He has written eleven books on the Vatican and Catholic affairs. Pope Francis is just visiting Slovakia and his trip will last more than thre...

A day that changed the world. This is how 9/11, 2001 is often described. And it's true. The world looked in disbelief when planes piloted by Al-Qaeda terrorists hit The World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Almost 3 000 people died and subsequently it affected the fate of millions. Colin Clarke is a New Yorker and he admits that the 20th anniversary of Al-Qaeda attacks is very emotional for hi...

What does Afghanistan withdrawal means for international politics? Is America still a superpower? And what is and could be the role of Europe in all of this? ,,There is no military power that can stand up to United States in a head to head competition. Having said that, if we measure power by your ability to get what you want, the United States is weaker because it doesn't know what it wants." Thi...

,,I think we, no matter what, need to be doing everything practically at our power to get people out of Afghanistan that want to leave the country". This is how Melissa Siegel , Professor of Migration Studies at Maastricht University and the United Nations University-MERIT, sees the current situation in Afghanistan. We also discussed what kind of coordinated approach the European Union a...