The Security Council of the UN has adopted resolution 2085 authorizing the deployment of an African force in Mali. The idea is to entrust the care of ECOWAS secure zone under UN mandate, working in parallel as part of the EU to the reconstruction of a Malian state. In fact, the historical range of the Tuareg population exceeds northern Mali and beyond the territory of neighboring States, including the Algerian Sahara. If the principle of sending an ECOWAS force in northern Mali is acquired after the UN resolution that has been passed by the Security Council, timely lengthen. While it was originally planned to move quickly and deploy in spring 2013, it is now more a question of the second half of 2013 | Interview with Jean-Sylvestre (...)

The “Arab spring » and the so referred wave of seditions, revolutions and conflicts are not just epiphenomenal but the first interpretation through the End of History as a paradigm was an illusion. However, talking about an “Islamist winter” would not be enough. The political Islam is not a monolithic block, the regional rivalries are most important and go beyond the polarity between Shiites and Sunnis. Thus, the western diplomacies have to manoeuver into that complex and split area | By Jean-Sylvestre MONGRENIER, Research Fellow at the Thomas More Institute | Available in French 

Texte, relu et augmenté, de l’intervention prononcée lors du Forum sur la sécurité européenne organisé par le CIDAN (Civisme Défense (...)

In the USA, first exploitation projects of shale gas have started decades ago but it is only for a couple of years that considerable effects begin to be witnessed. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) assesses the actual production to 260 billion cubic meters – five times more than in 2008. In 2035, an half of the gas production in the United States will come from shale gas reserves. Thus, the USA could reduce their gas imports and become significantly more independents. The U.S. foreign policy could be seriously modified | Interview on these major challenges of Jean-Pierre SCHAEKEN WILLEMAERS, Chairman of the Energy, Climate & Environment Department of the Thomas More Institute, published in Diplomatie magazine, (...)

The spectacular side of Qatar’s investments abroad and the “flying-carpet diplomacy” tend to hide the lines of force of its foreign policy. Under the American umbrella, Qatar is the nimble component of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The main idea is to be a driving force in the Sunni Arab world that is taking shape. In the background, there is the opposition between the Sunni Arab regimes and Shiite Iran. Qatar will not be able to play such a game without any stronger solidarity among the Gulf’s countries.

| By Jean-Sylvestre MONGRENIER, Research Fellow at the Thomas More Institute | Published in GéoEconomie review, Special number "Qatar, l'offensive stratégique", N°62, Autumn 2012 | Available in French (...)

The Syrian civil war could spread over Liban, Turkey and Jordan but the double Russian and Chinese veto in the United Nations is still protecting Bachar Al-Assad's regime from any firm conviction. Despite the required slight differences and details, it would not be an exaggeration to evoke a « sectarian cold war » in the Middle-East. More generally, the whole situation looks like a global « cold peace ». The Western powers cannot ignore the course of events, especially with Turkey as an ally into that Near East. Thus, the interallies solidarity should not be neglected on NATO's South-East borders, as in Eastern Europe and also in far-off geographical zones | Tribune N°36, available in French | By Jean-Sylvestre MONGRENIER, (...)