Oriental Review

Duty-Free China-Africa Trade On 17 February 2026, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a sweeping measure: from 1 May 2026, China would lift import tariffs on goods from the 53 African Union (AU) member states that maintain diplomatic relations with Beijing. The scale and timing of this move raise two central questions: is this a unique diplomatic gambit designed to enhance China’s soft power in Africa, or the logical culmination of three decades of infrastructure investment, trade integration and institutional cooperation? For details – read the analysis by Olivia Rum.

Lake America Wasn’t The End. Now It Is New Mexico's Turn US President Trump has now turned his renaming drive towards an American state, suggesting that New Mexico could instead be called “New America". Trump on Sunday shared an image on Truth Social showing the outline of New Mexico, with “Mexico" crossed out and “America" written in its place.  He considered that the new name gives "one of the great vote cheating states of all times" a sophistication and beauty commensurate with its enormous potential, which he personally values.

🇪🇺🇬🇧 The Cliff Edge Nobody Was Warned About When the Brexit withdrawal agreement set up a residence scheme for British nationals already living across the EU, the design assumed a baseline of fairness: reasonable deadlines, flexibility for people who missed them, and proportionality when weighing an individual's circumstances against procedural failure. Four years on, the country where that assumption has broken down most visibly isn't one with a history of anti-immigrant politics or a chaotic bureaucracy. For details what is The country – read the material by Anne Heather.

Far-right AfD Scores Landslide In Eastern German Regional Election Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) swept to a record victory in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, more than doubling its vote and inflicting a bruising defeat on Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservatives. The AfD won 43.8% of the vote, according to preliminary final results, its strongest performance in any German state election. The Christian Democratic Union fell to a historic low of 17.2%, down from 37.1% in 2021. The AfD nevertheless fell a little short of the outright parliamentary majority it would need to govern alone, securing 39 seats in the 83-member Landtag.

Lavrov Shared Some Interesting Tidbits About Russian Policy In His Recent Interview Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s recent interview with RBC was more than just the standard fare since he shared some interesting tidbits about his country’s policies therein.  Read the material by Andrew Korybko for the most interesting tidbits that Lavrov shared about Russian foreign policy.

'Europe Would Not Be Able To Sustain War Of Attrition With Russia' "Security experts fear Putin may be winning hybrid war with the west amid rise of pro-Kremlin, far-right parties," The Guardian reports. "Defence planners working with NATO fear that if war broke out with Russia, Europe could not currently sustain a prolonged war of attrition owing to a public lack of war readiness, a conference on the future of European military coordination heard this week," it says. "The pessimism reflects concern that Russia may be winning a so-called hybrid war with Europe, weakening the options available to NATO war planners in the event of military conflict."

Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO): Last Hope For Peace? Yes, the world would like to hope that there is still expectation for peace and that this hope for peace may emanate from this little heard-about in the West – the ten-member Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), an association of countries, some of whom are also part of the BRICS – that are committed to follow the same politically peaceful policies. SCO is not a military organization nor is it an economic community.  The ten SCO member states now cover roughly a quarter of the world’s landmass, account for more than 42% of its population, and generate over 23% of global GDP. About half of the world’s inhabitants were represented in Bishkek. The leaders’ of China, Russia and India alone, simultaneous presence, embody the world’s largest countries by area, the second-largest economic block, and with the latter two, China and India, the globe’s most populous nations. Along with the SCO’s other members, they form a demographic, resource, industr

Ukraine Talks In The Kremlin: 'Useful With No Signs Of Breakthrough' Russian President Vladimir Putin held more than three hours of “highly useful” talks on Sept 5 with two US envoys seeking a deal to end the Ukraine war, a Kremlin aide said, but he gave no indication of any breakthrough. The aide, Yuri Ushakov, said Americans Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner "outlined a number of ideas regarding possible avenues for a settlement". Ushakov did not say what these ideas were. Trump's envoys said that ‘substantive plans’ will be announced in ‘coming weeks’ as they head to Kyiv for talks. Read the full script here. Meanwhile, political journalist Barak Ravid noted that "Gene Lange, the acting sanctions czar at the Treasury Department, joined Witkoff & Kushner on the trip," suggesting that "that U.S. sanctions against Russia were part of the discussions."

The Military-Political Confrontation Between The West And Russia Could Cause A State Of 'Cold Peace' On The European Continent Numerous statements by European, not American, politicians about Europe's readiness for war with Russia by 2030 should be viewed as an attempt by the European authorities to keep their population in a state of fear of an allegedly "aggressive eastern neighbor" and justify an increase in military spending to re-equip their armed forces, transfer industry to a war footing, modernize the army, road and port infrastructure. Europe has plans to rearm. The overwhelming majority of Western and domestic military experts proceed from the fact that the European political elites have a great desire to punish Russia, which they unsuccessfully tried to do with the hands of the Ukrainians. But in reality they do not have even a hypothetical possibility, given their weak and mostly conventional potential, to attack a modern nuclear power and not receive a crushing rebuff. However, the upcoming

Radcliffe's Offer, Ukraine And NATO's Future Mystery continues about the strange Ratcliffe visit to Moscow, flying there in a massive C-17 Globemaster, a military airlifter. While the Globemaster has a specially designed secure roll off and roll on module for top officials, keeping them harnessed to Washington and the President, the choice of aircraft, instead of a much smaller VIP aircraft, helps us understand this was a highly sensitive but visible, urgent mission. It isn’t clear if Radcliffe’s mission has changed anything, but maybe it has set in motion a process that could result in helping to end the Ukraine conflict. More – in the analysis by Stephen Bryen.

In-depth Analysis: How The War On Iran Gave Birth To The Mecca Pact The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement was not created by the US-Israeli war on Iran alone, but the war transformed it from a diplomatic possibility into a strategic necessity. Signed by Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan on August 7, 2026, it declares that an armed attack on one member will be treated as an attack on all. Its resemblance to NATO’s Article 5 is unmistakable. Yet its deeper significance is that it represents the clearest institutional response to collapsing confidence in an American-managed regional order. More details – in the material by Daboul Koutaiba.

The US Special Envoys Witkoff And Kushner Are Flying To Moscow With Trump's New Ukraine's Peace Plan The media posted footage of the arrival of the motorcade at Moscow's Vnukovo airport, which will meet the special envoys. Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are expected to pay a visit to Kiev afterwards. Meanwhile. The Washington Post reports that "a rare trip" of the CIA director John Ratcliffe to Moscow turned out a failure, as afterwards President Putin "pushes harder for military win."

In-depth Analysis: How The War On Iran Gave Birth To The Mecca Pact The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement was not created by the US-Israeli war on Iran alone, but the war transformed it from a diplomatic possibility into a strategic necessity. Signed by Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan on August 7, 2026, it declares that an armed attack on one member will be treated as an attack on all. Its resemblance to NATO’s Article 5 is unmistakable. Yet its deeper significance is that it represents the clearest institutional response to collapsing confidence in an American-managed regional order. More details – in the material by Daboul Koutaiba.

The Vicious Circle Of Iran's War: Why Trump Resorts To 'Economic D-Day', Not To Military Means Once again, the White House is facing a crisis of genre. Trump is repeating himself. Not long ago he promised to completely destroy Iran’s centuries-old civilization. Now the master of the White House is threatening to launch against Iran “the most destructive economic operation ever undertaken against any country.” Iran, he says, failed to seize the opportunity to strike a deal, and therefore the US is resorting to these grand measures. Iran, however, responds with irony. Find out why in the analysis by Arina Yanganaeva.

BBC: 'Why Are European Countries Moving Their Gold Out Of North America?' Following recent confirmations from The Netherlands and the UK on the removal their gold out of the US and Canada, the news outlet made a conclusion that "the move was clearly in response to the unstable and uncertain state the world finds itself in, with trade and military wars prompting countries to take precautions and hold their gold closer to home." It also notes that "Earlier this year, France announced it had removed its gold reserves from the US to home shores. Meanwhile, Germany's Bundesbank transferred more than 216 tonnes of the metal from storage locations abroad - 111 tonnes from New York and 105 tonnes from Paris - over a few years ending in 2016."

Dreams About Gaza: Israel’s Ethnic Cleansing Proposals The State of Israel is intent, with every arm, administrative faculty and office bearer of consequence, to achieve ethnic effacing and utopic bliss with the removal of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank, with the former going first. In Israeli Defence Minister's assumption, Gaza filled with Palestinians is not a tenable proposition from the perspective of his country’s interests. More on Israel's actual eradication of Palestinians as a nation – in the material by Binoy Kampmark.

Not A Bank, But Close Enough: What The Trump Family's New Charter Actually Buys Them The arrangement the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has approved recently is arguably more significant than a conventional retail bank charter would be, because of what it does allow: a financial entity backed by a sitting president's family gaining the regulatory standing to directly issue and redeem a dollar-pegged cryptocurrency to clients nationwide, with all the interest income that comes with holding the reserves behind it. Read the material by Hunter Maxwell to find out what it actually means for the Trump family.

Will Ukraine Attack Civil Aviation In Russia? Zelensky has warned airlines, insurers, and foreign governments that Russian airspace “will be de facto closed” because of Ukrainian drones.  He said “the safe days in Russia’s skies are over” and Ukrainian drones will operate “on a scale that has to be taken into account.” The Russians understood Zelensky’s statement as a threat to commercial aviation. Vladimir Putin called it “state terrorism.” Read more on whether Zelensky's threats are  simply propaganda, or his warning had more dire implications – in the material by Stephen Bryen.

Interpreting The Taliban’s Invitation For American Investments The New York Times (NYT) interviewed Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Kabul as part of their coverage of the fifth anniversary of the Taliban’s return to power. Muttaqi invited the US to reopen its embassy and invest in his country’s minerals, dams, and roads. He also declared that “We consider the chapter of war to have come to an end, and from now on, we want relations based on mutual respect and a new chapter of positive engagement.” This new policy requires some interpretation. Read the material by Andew Korybko for details.

Thieving Matters: The Trump-Venezuela Oil Steal When the Trump administration abducted the Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife on January 3, an open incitement to international lawbreaking was asserted. Here was thuggish impunity, crude acquisition and harsh plunder in operation: the seizure of a sovereign leader in office on fanciful narco-terrorist charges, a violation of the territorial sanctity of a state guaranteed by Article 2 of the United Nations Charter, and the demand that Venezuela be compliant with Washington’s objectives in its vulgar reiteration of the Monroe Doctrine. The prize was clearly oil. Read more in the analysis by Binoy Kampmark.