Strategic Council Online: A European affairs analyst said that Brexit will leave fundamental impacts on balance of power in European institutions, adding that Britain’s departure from EU as one of the two major military powers with abundant intelligence capabilities, a soft power and a widespread diplomatic network in the farthest parts of the world will weaken and reduce the impact of EU foreign policy.
Strategic Council Online: An expert on geopolitics has said France has failed to adopt appropriate policies on counterterrorism, saying that while Europe’s top concern has been terrorist acts over less than a decade, Mr Macron thinks we are still in the Cold War era and gives the first priority to developing nuclear weapons and to boast them against Russia.
Strategic Council Online: Leaving the European Union is not easy and for long years London will be facing complex negotiations ahead. Britain will lose the benefits it has had in agreements with the European Union and EU partners.
Abed Akbari – European Affairs Expert
Strategic Council Online: An international affairs analyst said Europe claims to be seeking a way to keep the Iran Nuclear Agreement alive by launching the trigger dispute mechanism. He said: “The reality is that if Europeans want Iran to unilaterally fulfill its JCPOA obligations, this would not be acceptable to Iran and continuation of the current trend by Europe may put an end to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Strategic Council Online: Former Iranian ambassador to Romania and Hungary, stressing that Europe’s alleged commitment to the Iran Nuclear Agreement (known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) must be accompanied by tangible results, said: Unfortunately, to date we have seen no positive move, other than speech therapy, from the EU in preserving the JCPOA.
Strategic Council Online: Despite the geographical, strategic and economic importance of Libya for Turkey, the Mediterranean movements of Ankara occur within the framework of a new policy Recep Tayyip Erdogan seeks to apply.
Siamak Kakai – Turkey Affairs expert
Strategic Council Online: Iran cannot execute a multilateral agreement alone! The Europeans have actually pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but have not officially declared it. They expect Iran to implement an agreement that they themselves would not respect.
Strategic Council Online: A professor of international relations has said that if Britain’s exit from the European Union occurs on February 1, not only the Brexit story is not over it is just the beginning. He then outlined the most important consequences of Brexit for Britain and the EU.
Strategic Council Online: The coordinated participation of China, Russia and Iran in a joint naval drill illustrates a common understanding among the high-ranking officials of the three countries of the potential threats and can be seen as a step towards shaping a multipolar world order in the future as well as new security strategies in the region.
Hamideh Safamanesh – International Relations Researcher
Strategic Council Online: The most important reason for Washington’s lifting of Cyprus arms embargo is the serious threat against Israeli and Egyptian interests in the region prompted by an agreement reached between Turkey and Libya over security-military and border issues in recent weeks and demarcating marine boundaries. The US Senate has voted to lift the arms embargo on Cyprus in a move that will displease Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Ghadir Golkarian – Professor at Near East University in Cyprus
Strategic Council Online: Despite all the American pressures, Europeans are aware that Russia is their big neighbor and whether the US agrees or disagrees, they are not in a position to overlook their strategic neighbor although on certain occasions it could be a security threat for Europe.
Morteza Makki – European affairs expert
Strategic Council Online: An analyst on African and West Asian affairs, referring to Algeria’s presidential election and the subsequent unrests, said the opposition’s capacity was not big enough to accomplish their goals behind the protest rallies; so it seems that the government would eventually succeed in forcing the opposition to stop their demonstrations first by giving them promises and then by threatening them.
Strategic Council Online: Conservatives victory in the British parliament does not mean the end of the Brexit political crisis for Britain and Johnson, says an expert on European affairs. “Brexit is a win-win case for the United States from two perspectives: On the one hand, the EU as a trade rival will be weakened and on the other hand, Washington could enter into bilateral agreements with the United Kingdom which would have more benefits for the US.
Strategic Council Online: An expert on Turkish issues has called Ankara’s policies toward Syria “ambitious” and said that under the current conditions Turkey faces challenges in the field of terrorism, the Syrian refugee crisis and the Kurdish separatism near its border that may face its internal security with a challenge.
Strategic Council Online: An international relations professor said that Turkey had entered into the Syrian crisis by unrealistic and inaccurate calculations, adding: “Turkey not only failed to achieve its initial goals but the crisis made Ankara face new challenges.”
Strategic Council Online: An international affairs expert stressed: Although the final statement of the NATO summit attempted to highlight Russian “threat” and revive some type of Cold War atmosphere with Russia and to some extent China and portray a show of solidarity around common goals, however the summit and its output could neither persuade international observers nor even the member states themselves.
Strategic Council Online: By announcing a plan to launch a “European Naval Mission” for Security in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, France wants to test what it has been dreaming of as a “European NATO” for years, an institution that has neither been consolidated in thinking nor it is applicable in practice.
Hamideh Safamanesh – International Relations Researcher
Strategic Council Online: An expert on European affairs, referring to a quartet summit of Europe and Turkey on Syria on the sidelines of the NATO summit in London, said: Turkey has been seeking a series of political concessions over developments in northern Syria in recent years.
Strategic Council Online: A European affairs expert says on the eve of NATO’s 70th birthday, fears of a diminishing US commitment to the military alliance as well as Britain’s exit from the European Union has put European security in dire straits and this has increased efforts by major European states to gain strategic and defense independence from the United States.
Strategic Council Online: A university professor considers France’s stance on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and the recent turmoil in Iran as politically motivated and completely biased. He also emphasized that the French Foreign Minister’s warning on using the trigger mechanism and a return to the international sanctions would be a form of evading its commitments.
