Author: Steven Sahiounie

Moscow and Beijing are working on a new way to cut their reliance on the greenback, as Russia plans to issue its first yuan-denominated bond, which may help the two in skirting US tariffs and sanctions. The yuan bonds are expected to be issued by the end of the year or early next year, marking the first time that Russia issues its sovereign debt in the Chinese currency, officially called renminbi. While the two trade partners have been planning the move since 2016, it has been postponed several times. Now the global political landscape has changed for both Russia and…

Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), known as Hashd Shaabi and comprised predominantly of Shia militias, on Wednesday claimed to have shot down a drone in the eastern Iraqi province of Diyala. Earlier in the day, the PMF said it struck a drone flying over its headquarters in the province of Saladin, near Baghdad. “The tactical group of Hashd Shaabi’s 26th brigade deployed in the operational center in Diyala in the district of Kanaan managed to shoot down a drone, which was attempting to attack the Iraqi army,” the statement read. In August, the PMF accused the US-led international coalition, which operates in…

Thanks to steadily growing gold and foreign currency reserves, Russia’s debt-to-GDP ratio has turned negative for the first time since its economy was hit by Western sanctions and by the oil market crash of 2014. As of August 1, the state debt (at the federal, regional and municipal level) amounted to 16.2 trillion rubles (around $247.3 billion). At the same time liquid assets of federal government, regions and non-budget funds stood at 17.6 trillion (nearly $268.8 billion). It means that the state debt in broad terms became lower than the nation’s holdings, according to calculations by the Russian business outlet…

North Korea has launched several unidentified projectiles toward the Sea of Japan, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported citing the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JSC) on Tuesday. According to the South Korean military, the projectiles were fired eastward, from an inland area in the South Pyongan Province in North Korea’s west, TASS reports. The type of the projectiles and their range is yet unknown. “Our military is monitoring the situation in case of additional launches and maintaining a readiness posture,” the agency quoted JCS as saying in a statement. In turn, Japan’s Kyodo news agency said the two missiles did…

In a significant escalation of Sino-British tensions, China has warned the UK against sailing ships in Chinese territorial waters in the South China Sea. China’s ambassador to Britain, Liu Xiaoming, reacted strongly to reports that the UK is considering sending its sole aircraft carrier close to China’s Spratly Islands. Reacting to suggestions that the UK’s HMS Queen Elizabeth may sail into Chinese territorial waters with US jets onboard, Liu Xiaoming replied curtly that Britain “should not do this dirty job for somebody else”. Speaking at the Defence Correspondent’s Association in London, the Chinese ambassador firmly rejected suggestions that Britain’s…

The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has summoned Israeli Ambassador to the country, Amir Weisbrod, to express the Amman government’s resentment over detention of two Jordanian civilians of Palestinian descent in the occupied territories, demanding their immediate release. Sufyan al-Qudah, a spokesman for the ministry, said on Tuesday that Jordanian authorities are working through all available diplomatic, political and legal means to ensure the freedom of Abdulrahman Marei and Heba Abdelbaqi, who were lately arrested after crossing the King Hussein Bridge, also known as the Allenby Bridge, which crosses the Jordan River near the Palestinian city of Ariha (Jericho) and connects…

A senior official at the Progress and Development Headquarters (PDH) of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) announced that the headquarters is implementing pilot development projects with the aim of alleviating deprivation in 1200 villages. Speaking to reporters in the southern city of Shiraz on Saturday, Ebrahim Ahmadi pointed to the PDH’s efforts to eliminate deprivation in rural areas across Iran and said, “Deprivation has different definitions.” “The PDH’s activity has been defined in various areas of culture, employment, livelihoods, infrastructure, development, health, etc., and is not limited to development issues,” he said. The official went on to say that…

The Russian Defence Ministry denied Reuters reports that Russian combat jets had delivered strikes on the Idlib de-escalation zone in Syria thus violating the truce. “Since the beginning of the cessation of fire regime on 31 August in the Idlib de-escalation zone, Russian Aerospace Forces and Syrian Air Force aircraft have not performed any combat missions to hit targets on the ground”, the ministry said. “The information of the British news agency Reuters about the alleged airstrikes by the Russian Aerospace Forces on the Jabal al-Akrad hill is another fake”, it said. The statement comes after Reuters reported earlier in the day citing…

The shock announcement came amid media reports suggesting that the US president and his national security advisor had major disagreements over the invitation of the Taliban to Camp David for peace talks. Trump, however, denied the reports, branding them “fake news,” while confirming that the peace talks are currently “dead.” US President Donald Trump has taken to Twitter in order to announce that he had asked National Security Advisor John Bolton to resign. The US president shed light on the fact that he “disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration”, without further specifying. Trump…

India is negotiating with Russia over the purchase of additional 21 MiG-29 and 12 Sukhoi Su-30 jets, Indian media have reported. “A proposal in this regard by the Indian Air force (IAF) is likely to be taken up before a high-level meeting of the Defence Ministry in the next few weeks,” government sources said. According to the sources, radars and other equipment on the MiG-29 planes will be of latest standards. The 12 Su-30 MKIs are being planned to be inducted for replacing the number of aircraft lost by the IAF in different accidents, they said. Ilya Tarasenko, CEO, MiG…