Gas Pipeline, Ukraine

The EastMed Pipeline: What is Happening?

In-Depth Analysis By Laura Pennisi on December 20, 2022 | Reading time 8 min

Throughout the past years, the “Eastern Mediterranean Pipeline,” an ambitious pipeline project launched in 2020 following the agreement signed in Athens by Greece, Cyprus, and Israel, has frequently appeared in international news, particularly those concerning the oil and gas industry. According to the original plans, the pipeline should transport natural gas from the Israeli gas field Leviathan through the Cypriot one, Aphrodite, to Greece and then to neighboring Italy as well as other European countries. Undoubtedly, it seemed the perfect alternative to decrease the EU’s dependence on Russian gas. But what caused the project’s demise?

Jimmie Åkesson, leader of the Sweden Democrats

Is the specter of populism and racism looming over Sweden?

Brief Analysis By Laura Pennisi on September 4, 2022 | Reading time 6 min

In the past few years, Europe has witnessed an upsurge of populist trends through several far-right and far-left parties sweeping around the continent. Sometimes with milder, sometimes with harsher manifestos, countries like Hungary, Greece, France, and Italy have been frequently in the spotlight. Currently, attention has been drawn to Italy and Sweden due to the September elections.

Putin, hands off Ukraine

How Eurasianism is Manipulated to Justify the War in Ukraine

In-Depth Analysis By Laura Pennisi on June 17, 2022 | Reading time 14 min

The conflict in Ukraine has sparked many debates on several issues, from military and political to ideological ones. There are numerous narratives and theories linked to Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine, this fiercely contested portion of Russia’s near abroad. Among these, there are the discourses centered on Eurasianism, which provide the Russian elites with strong arguments for the invasion, at least on an ideological level.

Russian warship crossing the Bosphorus in 2015

The Big Bear is still longing for the Mediterranean (no matter the war)

Opinion By Laura Pennisi on May 21, 2022 | Reading time 3 min

Russian access to the Mediterranean has been one of the Kremlin’s foreign policy goals all along. Not coincidentally, a big conquest in this regard has been the establishment of a naval facility in the city port of Tartus in Syria, which explains also Russia’s strong pro-Assad stance. Now it seems that after the war against Ukraine began two months ago, Russian sea activities are not directed only toward the Black Sea, as expected, but even more toward the Mediterranean.