podlist.gr

Turkish weaponry, primarily its drones, have made headlines as Ukraine has reportedly used them quite effectively against Russian troops. Turkish weapons have also shaped the outcomes of several recent clashes in the Middle East and beyond. This is a result of Turkey’s efforts to develop an indigenous defense industry, a key goal of President Erdogan. Expert Aykan Erdemir joins our host Thanos...

17 λεπτά

Three major summits - among the EU leaders, NATO, and the G7 - took place in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, where the primary aim was to show Western unity against Russia's war in Ukraine. President Joe Biden also traveled to Brussels, and stressed that "the single most important thing is for us to stay unified.” A central topic of discussion for EU leaders was on additional sanctions...

12 λεπτά

The arrival of two superyachts belonging to the sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich in Turkey this week comes amid international efforts to freeze assets belonging to Russian billionaires with links to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, and is raising concerns in the West that Turkey could become a haven for Russian oligarchs looking to avoid sanctions. So far, Turkey has not joined in...

16 λεπτά

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced that Greece would send arms to Kyiv. While these arms are hardly enough to change the balance of the war, they have signaled a new doctrine in Greece’s foreign policy, one that upends the country’s long-standing aversion to getting involved in foreign conflicts. Prime Minister Mitsotakis made the case that this...

13 λεπτά

Europe faces unprecedented challenges in the wake of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, with the continent’s reliance on Russian energy in the spotlight. As a result, the EU is on a mission to cut Russian gas use and find alternative sources of energy to meet its needs. This is inevitably turning attention back to the Eastern Mediterranean and the EastMed Gas Pipeline, despite the US non-paper...

17 λεπτά

A few months ago the State Department pulled its support for the EastMed gas pipeline that would bring Israeli and Cypriot gas to Europe via a pipeline from Cyprus to Greece - a move that had broad diplomatic support in the region. In a recent op-ed in The National Interest, Michael Rubin argues that this decision by the Biden administration neither furthers national security nor combats...

15 λεπτά

An op-ed in The Wall Street Journal on Thursday made the case that the US should help Turkey transfer its Russian S400s to Ukraine as a way to help Ukraine and resolve tensions with the US. It also suggested that in return for sending its S-400s to Ukraine, the US should offer Turkey a replacement for the S400s and get Ankara back in the F-35 program. The op-ed has drawn sharp criticism from...

16 λεπτά

Instead of strongly condemning Russian President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian Patriarch Kirill has given his full-throated support to the Kremlin. This support stems from an ideology supported by both Putin and Kirill known as "Russian World", which links faith with Russia’s nationalist aims. This support has resulted in a splintering within the Orthodox world, and is in clear contrast...

18 λεπτά

Since Putin invaded Ukraine, Greece has taken a firm stance in support of Ukraine - both diplomatically and materially. These steps have not gone unnoticed by Greece’s partners in the West, primarily the US, with the State Department praising Greece’s handling of the Ukraine crisis and its role on the southeastern flank of NATO. At the same time, the war in Ukraine is forcing a rethinking of...

13 λεπτά

Faced with the scenario of a permanently adversarial Russia, a number of countries to Russia’s south - primarily in the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and Africa - will be confronted with difficult choices in a vast array of domains—food security, trade, energy supplies, arms procurement, and military alliances. This could push them to choose between political alignment with Russia, which...

15 λεπτά

Cyprus, an EU member, has backed the bloc’s escalating sanctions against Russia in the wake of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Europe’s punitive measures have raised questions about how the sanctions will impact Cyprus’s economy. While Cyprus has gone a long way toward untying its bonds to Russia, officials acknowledge that sanctions will hurt parts of the Cypriot economy. Cyprus’s finance...

11 λεπτά

Turkey’s Western allies have often sidelined democratic values when dealing with Turkey’s President Erdogan. As the war rages in Ukraine and Turkey maintains its balancing act between the West and Russia, there are questions that the West is once again sidelining human rights and democratic values as it looks to engage with Turkey on Ukraine. Merve Tahiroglu, the Turkey Program Coordinator at...

14 λεπτά

Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Turkey – the first such visit by an Israeli leader since 2008 - has put Turkish-Isearli relations in the spotlight. Turkey’s President Erdogan described the visit as a “turning point” in relations between the two countries. Despite Erdogan’s stated optimism, key differences still need to be resolved, and a major sticking point in rebuilding this...

18 λεπτά

The imposition of sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine has put economic ties between the West - primarily the EU - and Russia in the spotlight, as countries look to assess the potential impact these measures will have on their economies. As a member of the EU, Greece has also joined its partners in imposing sanctions on Russia. While Greece has very limited direct exposure...

17 λεπτά

The war in Ukraine has found Turkey stuck in a balancing act between the West, Ukraine, and Russia as it’s entangled geographically, economically, politically, and militarily with the war’s protagonists. Rather than take a clear side, Turkey’s President Erdogan has made it clear that he does not want to turn his back on either Russia or Ukraine, and his solution is to offer himself as a...

14 λεπτά

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed European countries to make historic foreign and defense policy moves, and it appears that the political will for a common European approach on this front, elusive for decades, is forming. For the first time the EU is financing the purchase and delivery of weapons to Ukraine, a country at war, while Germany reversed its historic policy against sending arms...

15 λεπτά

Russia is actively seeking to influence religious and traditional views to further its own agenda, pushing a narrative that Moscow stands for traditional values against a decadent West in an effort to foster division within Western societies. This is a particularly pernicious front of Russia’s malign influence campaigns, and combating it presents a uniquely difficult challenge for the United...

22 λεπτά

Turkey designated the Russian invasion as a “war” over the weekend, giving it the right under the 1936 Montreux Convention to close the Bosporus Strait - a move that’s been seen as supportive of Ukraine. Aside from this move, however, Turkey has been reluctant to join its NATO allies in taking punitive measures against Moscow such as imposing sanctions or shutting its airspace to Russian...

16 λεπτά

Energy has taken on a central role in the crisis unfolding in Europe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as Europe imports 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia. Despite this reliance on Russia and sky high energy prices, EU leaders have agreed on tough sanctions against Russia, and Germany even canceled the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline that would carry Russian gas to Germany. The war in...

18 λεπτά

Over the weekend Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced that Ankara would implement the Montreux Convention, an agreement that allows Turkey to regulate the transit of warships through the Dardanelles and Bosporus straits during times of war. The decision comes after Turkey called Russia's invasion a "war", and means Turkey could block at least some Russian warships from accessing...

11 λεπτά