Izumo is a Japanese 249 meter-long warship that can operate up to nine helicopters. It’s the largest warship to be dispatched in the South China Sea and symbolizes the shift of Japanese politics from a pacifist approach to a more aggressive one. Izumo will counter the menaces in the South China Sea, but it will definitively shake up political relations as well.
READ MOREAffairs in which it was possible to write down such words seem worlds away from the situation we live in today, when the very concept of the European Union is challenged and put to a test, especially after the Brexit vote. Precisely because of this, it is important not only to reconsider the future development of EU’s internal affairs and structures, but also the plans and ideas that would redefine the EU as an international actor. Even though it seems the new Global Strategy, adopted two months ago, has come at the right time, the question remains whether it will trigger an adequate new approach to EU’s external affairs.
READ MORERussia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 as well as Russian verbal threats and provocations towards NATO and non-NATO members, have put European leaders on edge. Talks of a new Cold War have revitalized the role of NATO and made Sweden question its neutrality. But is the threat from Russia towards Sweden substantial enough for Sweden to abandon its neutrality policy? No, and here is why.
READ MOREWhen walking the streets of Complexo da Maré in Rio, pluralism is engraved in various, albeit paradoxical, ways. Based on live field experiences, this op-ed tackles the social, political and religious twists and turns pluralism takes when entering one of Rio’s most contested spaces.
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