Oriental Review

Seif al-Islam Gaddafi and the Fight behind the Scene over His Fate

By Alexander MEZYAEV (Russia)

The legal proceedings against Seif al-Islam, the son of Muammar Gaddafi, have developed into an unusual situation, that has had no precedents in the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) history. The matter is that the Court itself is exerting efforts to destroy the case so that the accused would never have to face it. It has [...]

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Who Are To Stand Up In the International Criminal Court?

By Alexander MEZYAEV (Russia)

Not long ago the International Criminal Court (ICC) handed down a noteworthy ruling. Formally it was related to two African states – Malawi and Chad visited by president of Sudan Omar al-Bashir. Their fault was not so much receiving him but rather not putting him under arrest. The warrant was issued by the ICC back [...]

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We Want War, And We Want It Now

By Pepe ESCOBAR (Brazil)

With friends like these … It all had to do with that Friends of Syria (fools for war?) meeting in Istanbul. Picture Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal – who seems to have a knack for sending US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton into rapture – feverishly arguing that the House of Saud, those paragons of [...]

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Is BRICS Challenging the West?

By Alexander VISHNEVSKY (Russia)

The fourth BRICS summit representing Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa was held on March 28-29, 2012 in New Delhi. Despite the limited timeline, its results might be defined as outstanding. In any case it’s obvious that the leaders of the member countries had no intention to confine themselves to purely symbolic resolutions, so [...]

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BRICS: Going Strong to Change the World Scene

By Andrei AKULOV (Russia)

On 28-29 March 2012 a BRICS summit was held in Indian capital New Delhi. The theme was “BRICS Partnership for Stability, Security and Growth”. This was the fourth BRICS summit that brought together the leaders of the emerging economic powers to discuss a host of global issues. The event took place against the backdrop of [...]

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The Arab World: From Nationalism to Tribalism

By Vitaly BILAN (Ukraine)

The “parade of autonomies” we are currently witnessing in the Arab world, primarily in Iraq and Libya, is an indicator of the crisis the region’s nation-states are undergoing. Unlike Europe, however, it is less a consequence of integrationist trends than an indicator of the Greater Middle East’s archaism, its return to tribalism. Farewell to the [...]

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Mali Coup a New Step towards Global Resources Grab

By Alexander MEZYAEV (Russia)

A coup erupted in Mali, a landlocked West African country, on March 22. The presidential palace, a number of the country’s state institutions, and the premises of the national broadcaster were seized by a mutinous group led by Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo, and at the moment, authority in Mali announcedly rests with an improvised “National [...]

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Cyrenaica and the Scuffle for Libyan Heritage

By Vitaly BILAN (Ukraine)

A failing state The decision by the so-called “Congress of the People of Cyrenaica” held near Benghazi to establish a unified federal region of Barq has again attracted the attention of the media to Libya. Of course, the main reason for this decision by the Cyrenaicans was the desire to take charge of the two [...]

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Libya: Revolutionary Brigades and the UN

By Alexander MEZYAEV (Russia)

For the first time the UN Security Council viewed the results of the Mission in Libya operation after it was established in September last year. The report of UN Secretary General was submitted for the Council’s consideration to convince its members that the prolongation of the Mission’s activities was necessary. That’s what was done. The [...]

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The BRICs and the Construction of the Multipolar System

by Tiberio GRAZIANI (Italy)

Ten years ago, the acronym BRIC entered the lexicon of international economics and finance. Since then, cooperation among the emerging countries contained in that acronym has taken on an increasingly marked geo-economic and geopolitical record. The consolidation of relations among Brazil, Russia, India, China and, since 2010, South Africa has been possible not only because [...]

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BRICS Flame Continues To Shine

By Melkulangara BHADRAKUMAR (India)

Just as the fizz seems to be going out of the BRICS grouping, the member countries have scrambled to put their act together. Apropos the crisis in Syria, which is arguably, the “hottest” issue in international politics today, the BRICS showed up worrying signs of an identity crisis of its own. Russia and China vetoed [...]

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Libyan Oil Infrastrusture Assets Seized By the US Special Operations Forces?

By Alexander KRYMOV (Russia)

The unexpectedly quick EU consent to take immediate sanctions against Iran “coincided” with seizure of Libyan oil terminals. To certain extent the negative affect of expected oil shortage for European economy could be minimized in case the utmost is done to boost the Brega and Ras-Lanuf production capacities till the complete cessation of contacts with [...]

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