Author: Christine Schier

Following the attempt to launch to launch a regime change operation in Kazakstan earlier this month, much more information has emerged on how the international operation worked (cf. SAS 2/22). Once the popular protests, originally directed against soaring gasoline prices, turned violent, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev quickly called on the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to help quell the well-prepared […]

China kicked off its diplomatic activity for the new year, as is traditional, in Africa. This year, it began with the “Initiative of Peaceful Development in the Horn of Africa,” a region plagued by civil war, terrorism and a humanitarian catastrophe. The policy was presented by Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his four-day visit to Eritrea, […]

At an event in Damascus last week, Syria announced its participation in the Belt and Road Initiative through a memorandum of understanding signed by Syrian Planning and International Cooperation Authority Chair Fadi al-Khalil and the Chinese Ambassador to Syria, Feng Biao. The agreement follows Xi Jinping’s phone call with Syrian President Assad in November, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s trip […]