Crisis in Mali: Interrelationship of major actors

This article provides comprehensive analysis of interrelationship of the main actors of Malian conflict in 2012-2021, based on official statements, documents, press reports and field studies. The analysis is focused on the main groups of actors and the complex nature of relationships within the system, based on the "mutual intersection" of actors at several levels - transnational, state and local (ethnic). The authors consider a complex of political and economic reasons that affects the change in the loyalty of actors - the general level of poverty, the issue of controlling routes of smuggling and drug trafficking, the unique political agenda of different groups, close tribal, family and friendly ties between representatives of the same classes and clans representing different actors. In the paper are also analyzed the main events that make it possible to talk about the type of relations between actors. Researchers pay special attention to non-state actors - former rebels and ethnic militias, which form the systems of relations among the actors of the Malian conflict and actively use violence, the monopoly on which de jure belongs only to the state. Authors analyze the position of foreign actors (France, EU, UN) and emergence of new, non-violent methods of combating terrorism, since the anti-terrorist operations "Serval" and "Barkhan" were not successful and did not destroy the terrorist groups in the Sahara-Sahel region. All these facts signal about a further change in the relationship among the actors and, as a result, new challenges and opportunities in the settlement of the Malian conflict.

«Et ma tristesse est claire...» (les notes sur l’œuvre du poete tunisien Tahar Bekri)

Intitulées par la strophe pouchkinienne les notes publiées - sont le temoignage des œuvres des Maghrebins vivant en émigration forcée et la sentant comme l’exil occidental surmontant et la déchirure avec la patrie et les difficultées pénibles des partucularitées de l’hospitalité française. Le tunisien Tahar Bekri a supporté la vie assez dure dans son pays natal étant emprisonné pour sa participation dans la manifestation avec les étudiants défensant la liberté dans les années 70. Apres il est parti en France où il a decidé de triouver ses ideaux, mais il rencontré beaucoup d’autres maleurs. Malgrès tout T.Bekri a obtenu la reconnaissece et dans son activité scientifique consacrée à l’histoire de la littérature arabe et maghrébine et dans son activite sociale lisant la poésie devant ses compatriotes nombreux, traduisant ses vers en langue arabe. Voyageant partout, il a obtenu les succès et en Tunisie où son ouevre on etudie dans son Université natal et ses livres sont publiés en arabe et en français. Marqué par les Prix litteraires significatives en Europe, traduite en plusieures langues y compris le russe, la poésie de T.Bekri est pleine d’energie de vaincre de l’obscurité dans la vie. Ce n’est pas par hasard que le poète en son debut s’est nommé comme «Laboureur du Soleil» . Mais si par hasard ce soleil commence à s’eteindre sous les pressions des peines de vies des hommes et la réalité terrestre, dans sa poesie apparaisse toujours la tentative des recherches de ses rayons comme les mirages dan le desert. Le «Chant» publié ci-dessous - est la preuve de l’espoire du poète qui tente a dissiper des crépuscules de sa tristesse de la vie bornée des nombreuses frontières d’aujourd’hui, et desire les changements vers le Meilleur que deviient très actuel à notre temps.

Indian South Pacific turn: causes and possible consequences

Until recently, Oceania was on the periphery of Indian foreign policy. This was due to a number of historical, political and economic reasons: the polities of Oceania historically weren’t a part of the Indian Ocean world; they gained independence too late, and the volume of India's trade with most of them is insignificant. The situation began to change after Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, but this process soon stalled. However, in recent months, there has been a sharp surge in Indian interest in Oceania. In the author's opinion, this is due to three processes: India's desire to enlist the support of its solar energy initiatives, the awareness of the weakness of its strategy of containing China in the Indian Ocean and and the formation of a triple informal alliance with the participation of India, Australia and France, which seems beneficial for these countries. The article analyzes the main imperatives and tasks of India, shows the process of their changes. The author points out that Fiji has historically played a major role in Indian politics in Oceania, but notes that in the near future Indian interest in Papua New Guinea and Tonga, two other island countries with their own armed forces, will grow. The article describes the existing interaction between India and the countries of the South Pacific and promising fields of cooperation. The author notes that Indian expansion in the region opens up new prospects for Russia and puts before it the question of formulating its own Indo-Pacific strategy, which would be combined with the Indian vision.

Prospects for global jihadism in Southeast Asia

The article examines the relationship between local and global radical Islamist movements in the countries of Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. The author set out to determine the reasons for the attractiveness of the rhetoric of modern global jihadist movements for the local population in remote regions of the world. The study showed that the ideology of jihadism is based on a return to identity, the main pole of which is religion. After examining the origins of radical Islamist movements in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, the author concluded that the Afghan War was the impetus for their development. The purpose of this study is to find common and distinctive characteristics of the situation with Islamist radicalism in each of the countries of the region. Analyzing the situation in Indonesia, the author concludes that the priority for local groups is local goals, and the issue of armed jihad has split the Indonesian Islamist movement into a moderate and radical wing associated with Al-Qaeda and ISIS. The article traces the evolution of secular power in Malaysia to the institutionalization of political Islam, starting in the 1970s. The author argues that the grows of the Islamization in Malaysia led to the fact that the modern religious and ethnic discourse of the country as a whole was prepared for the perception of the ideology of radicals when ISIS appeared in the region. The author found that the jihadist movements in the Philippines are motivated by the separatist conflict, they pursue local goals and use the rhetoric of global jihad to stimulate the struggle and intimidate opponents.

China’s trade and economic relations with Algeria, Morocco, and Mauritania in the 21st century

The study analyzes the current level of China's trade and economic relations with Algeria, Morocco, and Mauritania. The research methods include comparative-historical and economic analysis with the use of trade intensity and trade complementarity indices. The author concluded that Algeria enjoys a leading position in terms of trade flows between the countries and investment from China. Morocco is in the second place in terms of trade turnover, while Mauritania has the smallest volume. The most diversified trade is between the PRC and Morocco, as there is not only the mineral sector (as in the case of the other two countries), but also the services and electronics sectors. Traditional areas of trade and economic cooperation in the field of mining have demonstrated a low level of trade complementarity for the China-Algeria, China-Mauritania pairs. The most promising industries, according to the results of the study, are China’s machinery, the service sector and agriculture. The intensity of trade flows was higher in the period 2010-2019 on the part of the PRC in the China-Algeria, China-Morocco pairs. The disparity in the intensity of trade progressed throughout the period for the China-Algeria pair, while the intensity remained the same for the China-Morocco pair. Mauritaniais the country with the highest trade intensity index with the PRC. Moreover, the intensity on the part of Mauritania was higher than on the part of the PRC throughout the entire period. The data obtained confirmed the importance of the region in China's foreign trade relations, a trend that may develop in the future.

Mass popular movement “Hirak” in Algeria - a new “Arab Spring”?

Serious changes are taking place in socio-political life of Algeria. The mass protest movement "Hirak", which began in 2019, after the country's president announced his decision to run for a fifth term, continues to these days. Despite his resignation, a prompt change of political leadership and elections to a new parliament, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators in all cities of Algeria insist on further democratization and genuine modernization of socio-political and socio-economic structures, taking into account the interests and needs of young people. Indeed, more than half of the population of Algeria is under 30 years old, and unemployment among them reaches 24%. A distinctive tendency of the protest movement was the active participation of young people, which, according to the new leadership of the country, is the true real wealth of the state. Analysts note the awakening of collective consciousness in Algeria. Hirak's ability to make quick decisions during a pandemic shows that demonstrations are an instrument of extremely broad public momentum. Certain positive shifts towards changes have taken place - the president, who has been in power for 20 years, has resigned. However, the political situation can hardly be called stable. Including the majority of popular revolutionary protest actions in African countries ended with an immediate deepening of conservatism, the strengthening of traditionalism and the surge of radical Islamism. Probably, only in a fairly long-term perspective we can expect a real modernized stabilization of the socio-political situation, without which progressive economic development and its derivatives: an increase in the standard of living of the population and a decrease in unemployment are unrealizable.