Europe

The significance of international condemnation concerning the repressions of Crimean Tatars and unlawful Russian actions cannot be overstated. There is an urgent need to shed light on these atrocities and gain international recognition to combat them, ensuring human rights adherence decisively.

HSC Fellow Oliver Hegglin has been featured in an article from the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation following the country's reliance on other nations to evacuate its nationals from crisis-hit Sudan.

Ukraine is clearly, and justifiably, taking no chances when it comes to a potential repeat of the initial February 2022 invasion from Belarus. Despite what the numbers might say, the perceived aggressive rhetoric coming from Belarus has made everything “more serious”.

While it is likely that these threats Serbia's leadership is claiming the European Union and the United States have made are exaggerated, this is precisely the kind of tough approach that Brussels and Washington need to take if real progress towards the normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia is to be achieved.

In this most recent spike of unrest in Kosovo, it is reasonable to assess that KFOR’s active and pre-emptive handling has likely served to oversee and control tensions between the ethnic groups.

The House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee has published the HSC’s evidence to the committee’s inquiry into Defence in Scotland - the North Atlantic and the High North.

By forcing a topic to be discussed through consultations whenever a NATO member state feels threatened, Article 4 opens the door for diplomacy, during which decisions can be made that prevent NATO from being pulled into a conflict.

The European Union must show it can monitor how legal frameworks and institutions function in practice, and maintain pressure on a member state to implement long-lasting democratic reforms – this will send an important message about upholding the rule of law to all European Union member states, and even the candidate ones.

Switzerland’s system of conscription has been enshrined in the Constitutions since the establishment of the federal state in 1848, which reads “each Swiss is subject to conscription”. In other words, military service to the state and the concept of a “citizen-soldier”, is as old as the country itself.

The omission of the red stripe is a symbol of Russia without blood, war, and aggression. Promoters of the flag say the tri-color of the Russian Federation is now forever associated with war crimes and militarism.