In Geopolitics Today: Wednesday, November 2nd
Peace in Karabakh to Stress Relations between Azerbaijan and Iran, The New Security Agreement Between Australia and Japan, and other stories.
Peace in Karabakh to Stress Relations between Azerbaijan and Iran
Azerbaijan and Iran have grown increasingly hostile since the 2020 Karabakh War. Following Azerbaijan’s decisive victory over Armenia, which was made possible by military support from both Israel and Turkey, Iran has come to realize that its security along the northern border is now at risk as Baku is able to more easily cut off Armenia from Iran.
Azerbaijan has made no secret of its animosity toward Iran since the 2020 war with Armenia, even going so far as to make public maps of ‘Greater Azerbaijan’ that feature parts of Iran’s northern provinces. This is problematic for Tehran because Iran is home to around 16 million ethnic Azeris, all of whom are concentrated along the Azerbaijan border.
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China Expresses Interest in Solving Pakistan’s Economic Woes
China will continue to support Pakistan as it tries to stabilize its financial situation, President Xi Jinping is quoted as saying during a visit by Pakistan's prime minister to Beijing.
Pakistan had been struggling with a balance of payments crisis even before devastating floods struck the country this summer, causing it an estimated $30 billion or more in damage. Pakistan was expected to seek debt relief from China while both countries look to also deepen cooperation in the digital economy, e-commerce, photovoltaic technology and other energy-related areas.
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Kenya Deploys Troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo
Kenyan President William Ruto has announced that his country is sending more than 900 military personnel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to join a new regional force.
Ruto called the mission “necessary and urgent” for regional security when he that the deployment was made in communication with the DRC’s president. The two leaders are said to have agreed on how Kenyan forces would work with Congolese and other factions on the ground in the country’s troubled east.
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Normalization Talks between Egypt and Turkey Stall
Turkey has blamed Egypt for halting the normalization of ties between the two countries. Turkey’s foreign minister says Ankara sincerely wants rapprochement with Egypt, but Cairo remains suspicious of Turkey’s support for a rival government in Libya.
Turkey’s decision to sign sign a comprehensive energy deal with Libya’s Government of National Unity (GNU) for land and sea exploration has prompted Cairo to hold back on talks with Ankara to normalize ties. The move was interpreted in Cairo as Ankara deciding to support Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, whose legitimacy is questioned by the Libyan House of Representatives.
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The New Security Agreement Between Australia and Japan
Australia and Japan have made a new agreement that will deepen the strategic partnerships between both countries. The agreement includes efforts to deepen defense cooperation, intelligence sharing, economic security cooperation, and climate and energy security, and several other categories of cooperation
Australia and Japan are two countries that have based their national security strategies around interoperability with the United States since the end of the Second World War. Now, with Washington increasingly focusing on securing long-term allies in Asia and the Pacific, we should expect a deepening of regional security ties both between Japan and Australia, and between other US allies in the region.