Editorial – Russia, the Arctic and … Syrian uncertainties – If you were looking for a new tense area to monitor, here it is: the Arctic. We had known it was coming for a few years, but now it is definitely on the agenda, besides, mainly, the Middle East, North East Asia and a struggle for spheres of influence at the Eastern margin of Europe a.k.a. the Western margin of the Russian world. The Arctic positioning is also one more indication of Russia’s reasserted place as a full global player, notably present wherever uncertainties and changes are at work, as also underlined in the case of East Asia by the interesting Stratfor video on Russia’s East Asian Pivot, posted by @Kostian_V.
As far as uncertainties are concerned, the Syrian theater of war shows once more the difficulty of understanding what is happening in periods of change and turmoil, which are so well exemplified by war, as underlined by those two articles, Syria: FSA, Islamic Front face off (posted by @joshua_landis) and Syria Spotlight: The Real Story Behind US Cut-Off of Non-Lethal Aid to Insurgents? – EA WorldView, as well as by the Syrian National Coalition declarations. The related challenges in terms of decisions and policy-making only add to the general complexity… and fuel changes.
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