Nick Beake, BBC: Belarus plane: 'Perfect storm' prompts EU to act fast
"Had they not acted now," one senior diplomat told me, "an EU foreign policy as an instrument to project geopolitical power was pretty much buried."
The agreement reached on Belarus by the 27 European leaders last night was unusually swift, leading senior Brussels officials to claim they'd taken tough action in the face of a wholly unacceptable act.
Demanding the immediate release of dissident journalist Roman Protasevich, they agreed Belarusian airlines should be banned from European skies and that EU airlines should not fly over Belarus, with a plan for further, targeted economic sanctions.
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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- May 25, 2021
Why Belarus risked the wrath of the world to arrest an activist -- Mansur Mirovalev, Al Jazeera
How Belarus’s 'aviation piracy' broke international law -- Tom Wheeldon, France 24
Biden-Putin summit: Awkward conversation looms in Geneva -- Anthony Zurcher, BBC
The Israel-Hamas ceasefire is holding — what's next? -- Dov S. Zakheim, The Hill
Syria's sham election guarantees 1 thing — Bashar Assad will win -- Jennifer Holleis, DW
From protests to 'patriots': Why China is crushing Hong Kong dissent -- BBC
The Chinese Are Coming - to Taiwan? -- Amitai Etzioni, The Diplomat
Covid-19: Has India's deadly second wave peaked? -- Soutik Biswas, BBC
India's COVID Crisis Could Mean Global Economic Catastrophe -- N. Biyani, Atlantic Council
The Memo: Media face hard questions on Trump, Wuhan lab -- Niall Stanage, The Hill
In Japan most people want to cancel the Olympics, but the government won’t listen -- Koichi Nakano, The Guardian
Events in Myanmar leave ASEAN Behind -- Gregory Poling, East Asia Forum
Nuclear deterrence and stability in South Asia: perceptions and realities -- IISS
Key Decision Point Coming for the Panama Canal -- Daniel F. Runde, CSIS
Another Lost Decade for Latin America? -- Jeremy Cliffe, New Statesman