From Foreign Waters

  The recent phone call between the President of the European Council and the UAE President has been making headlines around the world. The conversation between the two leaders, which took place on April 17th, was focused on strengthening the relationship between the UAE and Europe. This is not the first time that the UAE has worked to strengthen its ties with Europe. In fact, the UAE and the EU have been strategic partners since 2004. Over the years, the two have worked together on a number of issues, from trade and investment to climate change and security. The recent phone call is just the latest example of this ongoing partnership. The conversation between the two leaders covered a range of topics, including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and the economy. The leaders discussed the importance of global cooperation in addressing these issues and expressed a shared commitment to working together towards a more prosperous and sustainable future for all. The phone call al...

  A number of top-secret documents that were leaked online just before Ukraine's eagerly awaited "spring offensive" against Russia have given us what appears to be a sneak preview of the US Pentagon's perspective on the war in Europe.  "The Pentagon Leak" Such a leak is entirely plausible given that the US relaxed its secrecy for wider sharing of espionage inputs after the 9/11 plans escaped the notice of its spies. (recall WikiLeaks). And now that the US has requested an investigation and damage review, these documents have gained credibility, even though it has been more than a month since the cache first surfaced on Discord and Telegram chat forums before being discovered by Western media.  Kyiv referred to it as a red herring and a Russian ruse to deceive the West but was also thought to be anxious. (and altering plans on the sly). This collection of Pentagon papers was described by some war bloggers as a tool of mass deception, but one directed at Mos...

  Europe is "a few years" away from recovering from its current energy deficit caused by the disruption in Russian gas supplies, according to Alfred Stern, CEO of Austrian energy group OMV. The continent is in the midst of its worst energy crisis. after Russia, the region's largest supplier of natural gas, cut exports in response to EU sanctions over its military offensive in Ukraine. However, the crisis has been smoldering for several years. under pressure from investors who have adopted more renewable-friendly strategies in recent years. "It takes significant investment to fix this, and our industry typically has very long investment cycles," he said. Investments in oil exploration and production must increase and remain near pre-coronavirus $525 billion through 2030 to ensure market balance, according to the International Energy Forum. Exploration and production investments in 2021 had fallen to US$341 billion for the second year in a row: approximately 25%...

  Switzerland has became the latest country to allow same-sex couples to wed and adopt children. Yesterday, Swiss voted in a referendum, making it one of the last countries in Western Europe to legalise gay civil marriage. According to the latest opinion poll, supporters of same-sex marriage were in the lead, with 63 per cent of respondents saying they were in favour, but the "no" campaign has gathered steam over the last weeks. The amended law will make it possible for same-sex couples to get married, and to adopt children unrelated to them. Married lesbian couples would also be allowed to have children through sperm donation. This process is currently legal only for married heterosexual couples. According to a survey by global LGBT+ advocacy group ILGA and research firm RIWI , it was brought forward that almost a third of adults globally think people of the same sex should be allowed to marry. Same-sex marriages are not legally recognised in In...

Countries across the world are currently fighting a war against a common enemy - the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. In this battle to save the citizens from a global health pandemic, international cooperation or multilateralism is certainly the best defence. An array of experts and analysts have identified the global health crisis as the most precarious threat to human life since World War 2. Therefore, they have argued that multilateralism and maintaining global commons are crucial to getting through this crisis. IMF's chief economist Gita Gopinath has also advocated the need for multilateral cooperation as vital to the health of the global economic recovery as the world faces the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. However, it has been witnessed that countries are individually implementing measures in response to the crisis, side-lining international cooperation. While the world governments were compelled to take draconian steps to contain the spread of the virus and...

In the world, apparently, now they will divide the time into what happened before the coronavirus pandemic, and what happened during and after it.  In any case, the virus made adjustments to relations between people, countries, forcing them to reconsider their views on many problems or postpone their solution until better times.  Recently it became known that this is exactly what the European Union and the USA did.  EU High Representative Josep Borrel over the phone discussed with US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo to join forces to contain and overcome the coronavirus.  This was reported by the press service of the European External Action Service.  “The parties discussed the coronavirus pandemic.  High Representative Borrel emphasized the importance of cooperation and international solidarity.  In light of the global dimension of this challenge and relying on a significant transatlantic partnership, the EU and the US have the opportunity to ma...

European countries are committed to maintaining an agreement with Turkey on refugees and do not exclude the provision of greater financial assistance to Ankara.   This was stated at a press conference in Berlin by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, commenting on the videoconference talks that took place on Tuesday between her, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.   "We also discussed the topic of migration. Today, negotiations were held between the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and the European Union’s diplomacy Josep  Borrell. Here we do not lead the negotiations, but we clearly spoke out for maintaining the agreement between the EU and Turkey," Merkel noted.  "We also expressed our readiness to provide more financial assistance if necessary," she said.   According to the Chancellor, one should not “lose sight” of the possibility of negotiations with Ankara on the issue...

The Libyan Coast Guards cooperates with EU preventing desperate immigrants to reach Europe through the Mediterranean, even in illegal way. After secret agreements between Italy, Malta and Libyan unrecognized Government of National Accord, this time the British “The Guardian” revealed a coordinated and unlawful EU assault on the rights of desperate people trying to cross the sea.  The investigation showed that on the night of 26 March 2019, two small boats made their way north across the Mediterranean. “The rubber crafts were flimsy; it would be nearly impossible for those onboard to make it to Europe without help. From the north, a twin-propeller aeroplane from the European Union naval force approached. From the south, the coastguard from the country they had just fled, Libya, was coming”.  Wrote Daniel Howden and Apostolis Fotiadis, adding that the aircraft arrived first but there would be no rescue from Europe. Instead the flight, callsign Seagull 75, radioed the ...