EDITORIAL

Shaul Shay
(Senior research fellow at the International Institute for Counterterrorism (ICT) at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya and former deputy head of Israel’s National Security Council)

Copyright: @ 2022 Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 2 January 2022

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS)

The Arab Coalition revealed on December 26, 2021, evidence proving the involvement of Hezbollah militia in Yemen and in using the Sanaa airport to target Saudi Arabia. The Coalition showed pictures of Hezbollah members training the Houthi militia to launch explosive-laden drones.

Coalition spokesman Brigadier General Turki al-Malki said in a press conference: “The terrorist organization Hezbollah has spread destruction in the region and the world, and it bears the responsibility for targeting civilians in Saudi Arabia and Yemen.” ...Read more

Zhyldyz Oskonbaeva
(RIEAS Senior Advisor & Eurasia Liaison)

Daniel Little
(RIEAS Senior Advisor)

Copyright: @ 2021 Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 13 December 2021

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS)

Originally published on 25 July 2015, we made the prediction that ISIS would be in Afghanistan and attempt to subjugate and take over the Taliban. We based this assessment on a number of curious facts. When we started, we found a geographic anomaly in terms of terror allegiance. We started with Africa in the West and worked eastwards towards China. What we found was alternating Yes-No-Yes affiliations between ISIS and al-Qaeda. From Boko Haram in Africa (ISIS),1 to al-Qaeda in the Magreb and points East, this perfect alternating symmetry left us skeptical that both were truly at odds with one another.2 Read more

Andrew N. Liaropoulos
(RIEAS Senior Analyst & Assistant Professor, University of Piraeus, Greece)

Copyright: @ 2021 Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 8 December 2021

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS)

A review of the policy papers that the European Union has published and the statements that key officials have made over the last three years, highlights the anxiety that the EU will not be able to effectively regulate its digital universe, protect its citizens’ data and compete successfully with China and the US in the arena of digital geopolitics. References made by EU policymakers to digital or technological sovereignty and digital autonomy imply that the EU is a weak actor in the digital domain and thereby, this affects its ability to regulate its digital services, protect its critical information infrastructure and shape the development of global norms regarding cyberspace governance. ... Read more

Andrew N. Liaropoulos
(RIEAS Senior Analyst & Assistant Professor, University of Piraeus, Greece)

Copyright: @ 2021 Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 21 November 2021

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS)

The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified the use of digital technologies in the name of public health and safety and vividly illustrated how societies, even democratic ones, can tolerate the expansion of executive power and accept restrictions on liberties. In China, the pandemic justified the use of such technologies and policies to a further extent, but also served as a proof by the government, that its model of digital control succeeded in handling the coronavirus crisis. China is exporting its model of digital authoritarianism, via the Digital Silk Road (DSR), the technology component of the Belt and Road Initiative. The exportation of the digital authoritarianism model is targeting mainly states in East Asia, Africa and Latin America, but its implications are global, if digital surveillance and social credit systems become the new normal.... Read more

Dr. Gulrez Sheikh
(Author, Columnist & geopolitical analyst based in India)

Copyright: @ 2021 Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 14 November 2021

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS)

According to a WSJ investigation, between 1998 & 2019, Beijing supported Huawei with about $75 billion via tax breaks, loans, credits. China also raised barriers to foreign telecom suppliers at home, protecting Huawei & other domestic providers, and lobbied foreign governments to help Huawei secure deals abroad.

Since Huawei/ZTE are required by law to cooperate with China’s intelligence operations if asked, they will remain vulnerable to pressure from Beijing. Chinese businesses operates without ethics, morals or rules. In Serbia, recently leaked documents suggest that Huawei made shadowy payments to obtain contracts with a state-owned telecom company....Read more

Shaul Shay
(Senior research fellow at the International Institute for Counterterrorism (ICT) at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya and former deputy head of Israel’s National Security Council)

Copyright: @ 2021 Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 7 November 2021

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS)

In Yemen hostilities have escalated since September 2021, claiming thousands of casualties on both sides. The Iran backed Houthis (Ansarullah) fighting to gain control of oil-rich Marib province - the last stronghold of government forces in northern Yemen. Marib is also geographically significant because it located at a crossroads between the northern regions and the southern Shabwa Governorate.... Read more