Author: Dusun Levni

The situation in and around Ocheretyne is desperate for Ukraine This weekend, Russian drones and scouts surveilling the front line just west of the ruins of Avdiivka, in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast, observed something strange. Ukrainian trenches just east of the village of Ocheretyne, previously manned by soldiers from the Ukrainian army’s elite 47th Mechanized Brigade, were empty. The village was undefended Seizing the opportunity, the Russian army’s 30th Motor Rifle Brigade raced several miles along the railroad threading west from Avdiivka and captured most of Ocheretyne—and potentially also Novobakhmutivka, the village south of Ocheretyne. It’s the fastest penetration into…

The U.S. military should reassess its force posture in Europe and reduce its reliance on revolving door-style unit rotations, a major think tank’s analysts concluded in a Monday report. The Center for Strategic and International Studies’ transnational threat team based their study on official documents, open-source materials and interviews with subject-matter experts. The report’s authors recommend that the Army abandon the rotational armor brigade deployment model that “eats up … the Army’s force structure and long-term readiness.” Currently, two armor brigades are deployed to Europe. Instead, the report said, the service should permanently station an Armored Brigade Combat Team in Poland to…

A Hezbollah militant was killed on Saturday in Israeli attacks on border areas in southern Lebanon, a Lebanese military source said. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Hezbollah militant died from Israeli airstrikes on the village of Aita al-Shaab. Israeli warplanes and drones carried out six airstrikes targeting houses and forests in the border areas, destroying six houses and damaging another 15, according to the source. Meanwhile, the Islamic Resistance, the military wing of Hezbollah, said its fighters carried out 10 attacks on 10 Israeli sites, killing one and injuring another. Later in the day, Israeli…

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Saturday vowed to make joint efforts to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. In a phone conversation, “the two presidents agreed to continue making earnest efforts to reach a ceasefire, stressing the imperative need for the international community to assume its responsibilities in this regard,” the Egyptian presidency said in a statement. Sisi and Putin also called for “concerted international efforts to reach a just and comprehensive settlement to the Palestinian issue, based on the two-state solution,” as well as the establishment and recognition of an independent Palestinian…

Jordan and Qatar hold a common position over pushing for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, protecting civilians, and ensuring the prompt, sufficient, and sustainable delivery of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave, said Jordan’s Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh on Tuesday. Khasawneh made the remarks at a meeting in the capital Amman with visiting Qatari Minister of State for International Cooperation Lolwah bint Rashid Al Khater, where both officials praised bilateral coordination and cooperation on the prompt and sustainable delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, the state-run Petra news agency reported. During the meeting, Khasawneh said the two countries agreed…

The counterterrorism expert and author of “Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday Massacre: Lessons for the International Community” explains how religious extremism manifested in Sri Lanka’s deadliest terror attack. On April 21, 2019 – Easter Sunday – a coordinated series of bombings ripped through Sri Lanka, targeting churches and luxury hotels. Over 260 people were killed, making it the deadliest terrorist attack ever suffered by Sri Lanka. The attack has continued to resonate in Sri Lankan society and politics, as the public demands to untangle questions of responsibility: Why was the attack not prevented, and what can be done to stop the…

NASDAQ columnist Larry Ramer has selected 4 of the most promising specialized companies for targeted mergers and acquisitions (Special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC for short), which investors should look at in the near future. It’s first SPAC by Kenges Rakishev, but not the first NASDAQ listing At the moment, they are not operating, and their main goal and characteristic is to bring selected private companies to the stock exchange through a merger, rather than a traditional IPO. Stock analysts are holding their breath, waiting for the upcoming deals to be announced, as they predict a sharp increase in the…

Frankfurt (22/09 – 58.33) Since May 2022, the Tajikistani authorities have stepped up their ongoing crackdown on Pamiris, an ethnic, linguistic and religious minority originating from the Pamir mountains in Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast of Tajikistan. They have arbitrarily detained hundreds of Pamiris, including civil society activists and human rights defenders, and imprisoned over 200 of them after convictions in unfair trials, in a campaign aimed at stripping the local communities of their leadership and dismantling their civil society. The authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Pamiri civil society activists, journalists and human rights defenders who have been detained solely…

On June 20, after meeting with Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Astana, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced Germany’s recent endorsement of Kazakhstan’s efforts to create alternative trade routes and transport corridors to Europe while bypassing Russia. Steinmeier declared that such measures would further prevent the Kremlin’s ability to evade sanctions via Kazakhstan (Svoboda, June 20). However, Moscow’s moves to redirect trade through a new corridor that would circumvent Kazakhstan pose a challenge to Astana’s ambitions (see EDM, 5 July). Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, both local governments, neighboring foreign states and international institutions have invested much effort and money…

The operator of a Belfast butcher’s shop has been fined £2,500 over food safety offences. The prosecution was taken by Belfast City Council against Mr Colin Blain, The Lane Butcher, at Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday May 23, following complaints made in December 2021. Belfast City Council Environmental Health officers found 91 turkey butterfly breasts that were beyond their use-by date and an additional consignment of raw turkeys located on crates outside the premises.  The business was also prosecuted for failing to ensure that the design and construction of the shop permitted good hygiene practices particularly in relation to the…