CasaPound, Golden Dawn, Salvini, and Meloni

https://www.ansa.it/english/news/2023/11/01/21-casapound-members-arrested-at-athens-airport_918250b4-252e-4cae-9867-08877b694779.html

Golden Dawn, Greece's Neo-Nazi Party has suffered significant setbacks but it hasn't gone away. The Greek Right (as is the case in several countries) is in a process of re-organizing, but Italy in particular has become a rallying point with the current Right-wing coalition in power. Meloni's Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d'Italia) represent Neo-fascism and with Lega's Salvini, FDI also has informal ties to political movements like CasaPound and Forza Nuova – the same folks that consider Golden Dawn to be compatriots and comrades in arms.

Syriza and the Pseudo-Left in Greece

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/25/kasselakis-a-political-unknown-and-ex-banker-wins-race-to-lead-greek-left

The fact that new Syriza leader Stefanos Kasselakis is a sodomite does not make him Left-wing – any more than was his predecessor Alex Tsipras. Tsipras who ran on Leftist platform and formed a coalition to that end, was revealed as a tool of the bankers and the EU Establishment.

A Ukraine Miscellany (VI): Mackinder's Pivot, Bucha, and Crimea

By demanding Russian rubles as the means of payment, Putin is attempting to 'blackmail' the European nations that still rely upon Russian gas. At least this is the argument we've been presented with by the mainstream media in the West. This is not only an unfair charge, it's incoherent.

The Context of the Hagia Sophia Controversy

Erdogan's conversion of the Hagia Sophia museum back into a mosque has generated a fair bit of news coverage in the West, coupled with not a little consternation and some confusion.

Geopolitical Chess: The Libyan Civil War and the Mediterranean Powder Keg

https://www.euractiv.com/section/defence-and-security/news/nato-opens-probe-into-france-turkey-naval-incident-in-mediterranean/

France has long been the voice of opposition to the inclusion of Turkey within the European community. Under Erdogan, the Ankara government has effectively given up the proposition of EU membership and the relationship with France has only continued to grow worse.

North Macedonia Poised to Join NATO

https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2020/02/14/north-macedonia-is-being-used-by-nato-to-target-serbia-and-russia/

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-north-macedonia-election/north-macedonia-parliament-dissolves-sets-poll-date-after-eu-shuns-talks-idUKKBN20A0OH

After resolving the years-long dispute over the naming status of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), the newly named North Macedonia is poised to join NATO. This has been a long-time goal of both Brussels and Washington, a step toward the post-Cold War consolidation project that began in the 1990's, an agenda that lost steam in the early 2000's.

The Libyan Proxy War: Ankara and Athens set to Clash on the Shores of Tripoli

https://news.yahoo.com/greece-aims-outflank-turkey-mediterranean-051925982.html

https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/athens-smarting-after-exclusion-from-german-hosted-libya-conference/

It's perhaps a bit of an exaggeration but looking at the growing tensions within the EU, NATO, the Mediterranean, Balkans and the Middle East, it's starting to look and feel a lot like 1914. Is war imminent? Probably not, but the situation continues to degenerate, stability is in question, people are talking about it, and scenarios are beginning to manifest in which such a suggestion doesn't seem so far-fetched.

Incirlik AFB Under Question

https://www.euractiv.com/section/defence-and-security/news/turkey-warns-it-could-kick-out-us-from-incirlik-nuclear-base/

Incirlik Air Force Base has long been a key outpost, staging area and strike platform for the US and NATO. It has played an important role in how the US projects power into the Middle East.

Libya and the Escalating Mediterranean Conflict

https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/turkey-raises-prospect-to-send-troops-to-libya/

The rift continues to deepen between Turkey and Libya and the story is further complicated by frankly dishonest Western reporting regarding the status of Khalifa Haftar and his backers.

South Tyrol: A Chink in the EU's Armour

https://www.thelocal.it/20181018/italy-and-austria-at-odds-over-south-tyrol-dual-citizenship

The region of South Tyrol doesn't normally make it into the news. An alpine wonderland, for most it's just part of northern Italy and yet its story is far more complicated. It's actually one of the dozens of potential 'trouble spots' within Europe that retain the possibility of future political turmoil and unrest. South Tyrol isn't a 'hot spot' like Kosovo or even as contentious as Transylvania, Ulster or Catalonia but it still has the potential to generate trouble. The EU was supposed to eliminate these tensions, to bring these cycles of history to an end and yet history just won't go away. And as Brussels weakens, history is rearing its head.

Haftar and Libyan Ports

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-libya-economy-port-idUSKCN1U02CH

This development represents further US subversion of the UN recognised regime in Tripoli.

In addition to further support for Khalifa Haftar... who interestingly has threatened Turkish interests... the move ensures that China won't be able to move in and connect Libya to its larger OBOR project.

(North) Macedonia, NATO and the EU

Who has the most power and who is most invested in the Balkans being wed to the Atlantic order?

While the EU would certainly like to see a Balkan consolidation, given the tensions and financial struggles of recent years the European Commission is going to be a little more cautious when it comes to bringing on more instability. Various European powers have their doubts about a full commitment to Skopje and I don't doubt that some fear yet another beach-head for Russia within the EU's structural dynamic.

The V4, Likud, Aachen and Atlanticism: New Blocs, New Structures

http://www.praguemonitor.com/2019/02/18/babi%C5%A1-travel-israel-joint-v4-summit

https://hungarytoday.hu/orban-discusses-v4-israel-summit-security-cooperation-with-netanyahu/

These events are already old news in terms of the high-tempo news cycle but they passed without proper reflection.

To start with, the V4 countries are often spoken of in relation to anti-Semitism. Far Right parties and politics are active in the V4 and thus it seems strange to many that they would meet in Israel.

The EU, Nationalism and Censorship

Politico reports that European Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova has given a speech in Vienna in which she discussed the problem of rising nationalism.

Brussels is not Being Idle: The EU, Albania and Macedonia

https://www.euractiv.com/section/enlargement/opinion/albania-and-macedonia-a-ray-of-hope-and-a-warning-for-balkans/

Despite all its woes the EU is looking to expand. The only countries left within the European orbit that aren't part of the EU are countries like Norway and Switzerland which have no interest in joining, nations like Ukraine and maybe Georgia which are riddled with controversy, states like Belarus and Moldova which are hostile to Brussels and the handful of Balkan nations which are a source of contention.

Ukrainian Orthodoxy and the Threat of Autocephaly

http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/orthodox-church-leaders-duel-over-ukraine-meet-with-pope-francis

Orthodoxy is marked by its autocephalous churches. Each nation, in good sacral fashion establishes its own episcopal hierarchy and is headed by a primate. There is no pope in this system to tie the various Orthodox bodies together.

Greece, NATO and Moscow

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/02/28/US-Army-UH-60-Black-Hawks-reach-Greece-for-NATO-operation/1861488299581/?utm_source=sec&utm_campaign=sl&utm_medium=8

Greece has often been one of the most volatile members within the NATO alliance. Under the Karamanlis government which came to power in 1974 after the US-backed Junta of Colonels was ousted, Greece left the military structure of NATO and did not return until the 1980s. And even then under Andreas Papandreou the relationship was less than brilliant.

Greece 1967 / Greece 2015

http://www.ahistoryofgreece.com/junta.htm

The CIA backed Junta which took power in 1967 represented a reaction to the Greek left. They established a military dictatorship which ruled Greece until 1974 when the fiasco in Cyprus brought them down.

Halki Seminary and US Objectives in Old Byzantium

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2015/01/23/january-23-2015-halki-seminary/25035/

While hardly a fan of Turkey's Erdogan, I find it richly ironic that the United States leads the charge in demanding that Turkey reopen Halki Seminary near Istanbul. Closed in 1971, it has been a focus of US diplomatic efforts since the 1990's. The United States and many others have pushed Ankara to allow the Greek Orthodox Church to open this famed and historic institution.