ANTON KOBYAKOV IS RUSSIA’S RISING FORCE WITH PENCHANT TO “SAIL UNDER THE RADAR”
Anton Kobyakov, remember the name! He is a soft-spoken, erudite and affable Russian politician who serves as an adviser to the Russian President, Vladimir Putin. He also serves at the highest echelons of Roscongress, a state-owned enterprise responsible for various strategic initiatives, including international events assemble and management as well. The unassuming Kobyakov holds a […]
“SPIEF 2025” SHOWS RUSSIA IS AT THE CENTRE OF A RAPIDLY CHANGING WORLD ORDER
This week, Russia is hosting some 20,000 participants from over 170 countries to the 28th edition of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). The theme of SPIEF 2025 is: “Shared Values: The Foundation of Growth in a Multipolar World.” Russia has held SPIEF annually since 1997. It is held under the auspices of the office […]
MORALLY UPRIGHT SA LEADS THE WAY AGAINST ISRAEL’S IMPUNITY BEFORE ICJ
This week, the international community once again stood still and listened to harrowing evidence of Israeli brutality amid its genocidal mission in Gaza and the occupied territories of Palestine, where more than 50,000 people have been killed since October 2023 and more continue to die every hour, week and month. The International Court of Justice […]
SADC EXPORTERS MUST UNLOCK NEW MARKETS TO SURVIVE THE TARIFF TSUNAMI
As the world continues to grapple with shifting global alliances and protectionist trade policies — triggered in part by the lasting ripple effects of Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs — the Southern African Development Community (SADC) finds itself at a crossroads. With traditional export markets becoming more volatile, regional exporters must begin charting a new path: one that prioritizes […]
US TARIFFS: CHINA HITS BACK!
China, the world’s second biggest economy, is leading international retaliation against US President Donald Trump’s wholesale imposition of universal tariffs that has triggered an unprecedented global trade war. President Trump’s minimum baseline 10 percent tariff on all goods exported from elsewhere into the US, the world’s biggest economy, has set off fear, shock and uncertainty […]
WHEN TARRIFS BECOME A POLITICAL WEAPON
US President Donald Trump has shocked America’s allies by lumping them together with the traditional foes such of the West in sweeping imposition of universal tariffs that have set in motion a global trade war. In typical cowboy fashion, President left no one unscathed. The EU, UK, Japan, South Korea and next-door neighbor Canada are […]
OPENING OF THE AZIZ PAHAD INAUGURAL ANNUAL PEACE, SECURITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS DIALOGUE
Speech Delivered by Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola, under the theme: Constitutionalism as the Foundation of Nation Building and Social Cohesion: A Reflection of 30 Years of Freedom, Equity and Justice in a Post Apartheid South Africa. “As we gather here today and this moment in history, we must guard against the […]
TRUMP LEAVES WAR-MONGERING EUROPE IN HIS WAKE AS HE EMBRACES RUSSIA
Within ten minutes of his call with the US President Donald Trump this week, Russian leader Vladimir Putin instructed his military to halt all attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. That is how determined both Trump and Putin are apparently eager to bring an end to the war in Ukraine, which Trump vows would never have […]
ZELENSKY’S WHITE HOUSE HUMILIATION PITS EUROPE AGAINST THE US, AND DAWN OF A NEW WORLD ORDER
The very public fallout between US President Donald Trump and his visiting Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, at the White House has complicated Europe’s implicit plan to prolong their proxy war with Russia. Even for Diplomacy 101, Zelensky failed spectacularly. The diplomatic decorum requires at its fundamental basis the ethos of humility, calmness and erudite exposition […]
IMPERFECT AS IT MAY BE, PEACE IS ON THE HORIZON, THANKS TO TRUMP
US President Donald Trump has set global power relations on a tailspin, leaving the entire Europe reeling in confused shock and disbelief and the future completely uncertain. A mere one month in office, Trump has signed countless executive orders and flipped America’s foreign policy from his predecessor Joe Biden’s globalism to his election promise of […]
FOREIGN MINISTER LAVROV’S REMARKS ON THE G20’S OBJECTIVES IN 2025
“We commend the Republic of South Africa’s substantial preparations for the forum and the topicality of chosen thematic priorities. We are particularly impressed with the emphasis on a search for a common denominator in the interests of combining efforts to facilitate sustained growth and development. We still have a long way to go for attaining […]
FOREIGN MINISTER LAVROV’S REMARKS AT THE G20 FOREIGN MINISTERS’ MEETING
“We welcome the successful start of our South African friends’ presidency. We understand the choice of the geopolitical theme that is not quite relevant for the G20: the economy is increasingly a hostage and victim of political ambitions. The West’s attempts to contain the objective process of consolidation of new powerful centres of growth in […]