International Relations

Russia And North Korea Sign Strategic Partnership Agreement

June 20, 2024 People's Dispatch. Educate! DPRK, International Relations, Multipolarity, North Korea, Russia, Ukraine, US Imperialism

As a result of June 19 talks, Russia and North Korea have signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement. The agreement provides for mutual military assistance in the case of aggression against either country. Russia also denounced the “indefinite restrictions regime” of sanctions imposed on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) by the United Nations. “Overused Western propaganda tropes can no longer hide their aggressive geopolitical intentions, including in Northwestern Asia,” Putin said in signing the agreement. The DPRK re-emphasizes its support for Russia in the war in Ukraine. This development follows Putin’s first visit to North Korea in 24 years.

The Back Channel

November 23, 2022 Scott Ritter, Consortium News. Educate! International Relations, Russia, Ukraine, Wars and Militarism

According to The Wall Street Journal, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has been involved with a secretive “back channel” line of communication with top Russian officials as part of an effort by the U.S. and Russia to prevent the war in Ukraine from escalating into a nuclear conflict. Among the officials named as representing the Russian conduit for this “back channel” are Yuri Ushakov, a senior foreign policy adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Nikolai Patrushev, the head of Russia’s security council. In comments made shortly after the WSJ article appeared, Sullivan confirmed that he has been working to keep communication channels between the United States and Russia open despite the war in Ukraine, adding that it was “in the interests” of the White House to maintain contact with the Kremlin.

Venezuela And Iran Sign 20-year Cooperation Plan

June 12, 2022 Ben Norton, Multipolarista. Create! Algeria, International Relations, Iran, Venezuela

Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro took a historic trip to Iran and announced a 20-year cooperation agreement, pledging to more closely integrate the countries’ economies and work together in a joint “anti-imperialist struggle for a better world, of international respect and peace, without hegemonies.” Maduro signed the pact with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran on June 11. It was described by the Venezuelan and Iranian governments as a “partnership agreement” and “cooperation agreement.” The deal involves collaboration in science, technology, agriculture, oil and gas, petrochemicals, tourism, and culture, according to Tehran’s Press TV.

International Seminar For Peace Kicks Off In Cuba

May 5, 2022 Ileana Ferrer Fonte, Prensa Latina. Organize! Anti-War, Cuba, International Relations, Latin America

Leaders of the World Peace Council (WPC) and its member organizations, as well as prominent figures, academics, anti-war activists and friends in solidarity with Cuba, are present in the event, to be held until Thursday, May 5. According to the program, WPC President Maria do Socorro Gomes, that organization’s Executive secretary Iraklis Tsavdaridis and Venezuela’s Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Ron Martinez are also attending the Seminar. According to the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), the meeting will demand the cessation of the arms race being developed by the United States along with its allies of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Participants will also support the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Peace Zone, endorsed by the heads of State and Government of the region in January 2014.

Breaking The Cycle Of Underdevelopment In Latin America

February 17, 2022 Carlos Martinez, Orinoco Tribune. Educate! Belt and Road Initiative, China, International Relations, Latin America

The last few months have seen a significant expansion of the Belt and Road Initiative in Latin America and the Caribbean. Although this region of the world is not the most obvious fit for an undertaking that was originally modelled on the Silk Road – a network of trade routes linking East Asia with the Middle East, Africa and Europe – the reality is that the countries of South America, Central America and the Caribbean share many of the same needs as their counterparts in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Most Latin American countries won their formal independence from Spanish and Portuguese colonialism in the 19th century, but they found themselves in the shadow of an incipient North American imperialism.

Nicaragua: Partnership With China Defangs US Regime Change Tactics

January 21, 2022 Ben Gutman, Council on Hemispheric Affairs. Create! China, International Relations, Nicaragua, US Imperialism

In a bold and consequential decision with rippling geopolitical implications, Nicaragua recognized the “One-China Principle” and resumed diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for the first time since the beginning of the neoliberal period in 1990. This was announced December 9, 2021 shortly after a meeting of the China-CELAC Forum in which CELAC’s 32 Latin American member states agreed to adopt a China-CELAC Joint Action Plan for Cooperation. The strengthening of Chinese ties with Western Hemisphere partners in a forum without US presence comes as a red flag for US hegemony and control over its own “backyard,” which, since the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, has been firmly fenced off from other “external” global actors seeking influence in the region.

The US Fears Chinese Model’s Impact In The Middle East

December 18, 2021 Elijah J. Magnier. Educate! China, International Relations, Middle East

Notwithstanding that China is a relatively “shy participant” in Middle Eastern policy, the US hegemony, which claims exclusivity among the most “obedient” Arab countries (those which fall into its strategic sphere of influence), is threatened by it. The worrying aspect for the US is that Beijing seeks to present a different model that integrates and takes advantage of the US’s failed military experiences in many wars and direct political interference attempts over the past decades. China hopes for a non-aggressive economic-political breakthrough in the Middle East through a less ferocious and less explicit model than the American one. China has robust chances to succeed due to the mounting awareness in that part of the world of the need for the Middle Eastern states to diversify their international relations and sources of military equipment and commerce.

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