Commentary

South Korea is no stranger to walking the tightrope between the United States and China. In terms of foreign policy, South Korea is determined to remain close to the United States defensively while maintaining its close economic relationship with...

Despite a concerted effort from the People’s Republic of China to teach Lithuania a strong economic lesson for opening an unofficial diplomatic representative office in Taipei (and allowing Taiwan to do the same in Vilnius), it appears that Beijing...

Throughout Russia’s current, renewed invasion of Ukraine, the three Baltic states have been continually working to improve their defense, even as they send military aid to Ukraine (the scale of which—compared to the Baltics’ own defense budgets—is staggering). The...

Morocco made a surprising announcement last year, on July 5, 2022. The Maghreb-Europe Gas Pipeline, which had up until November 2021 transported billions of cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas every year from Algeria to Spain via Morocco, would...

Following a twenty-year war shrouded in bloodshed, the United States military pursued a messy withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. This abrupt troop evacuation, coupled with the Afghan government’s unsuccessful ceasefire and the 2020 Doha Agreement, has empowered the...

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a regional organization consisting of ten Southeast Asian member states. Established in 1967, it aims to promote economic and security cooperation in the region. The annual rotation of the ASEAN chairmanship...

The Federation of Security and Defense Industries of Latvia recently celebrated its ten-year anniversary. Although the military industry in Latvia predates the federation, the industry has grown markedly in the last decade. The military industry in Latvia has developed...

On May 31, 2023, the parliament of Latvia will attempt to elect Latvia’s next president. The presidential race that has just started has already had some rather dramatic twists and turns.   First there were two candidates: The right-wing nationalist...

Does Latvia intend to expel Russian citizens who currently live in Latvia but do not speak Latvian? What do recent amendments to Latvia’s Immigration Law, which were adopted last autumn, provide with regard to language acquisition, and what is...

A year has passed since Russia escalated its war against Ukraine to a full-scale invasion. When writing about the first Latvian reactions to the Russian attack, we noted the geographical proximity with both aggressor and victim made Latvians feel...