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Top 10 game changers of 2023

Whether you win or lose, in politics it is still how you play the game that matters. This year, several global players not only played the game, but they changed it in significant and surprising ways. Join us as we revisit some of the most pivotal moments, figures, and trends of the year in geopolitics.

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Representatives from more than 40 countries, including China, India, and the U.S., pose for a group picture as they attend talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS

Ukraine War: Any closer to peace after Jeddah talks?

The Ukraine diplomatic sweepstakes continued this weekend as representatives from more than 40 countries gathered in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to try to forge a path toward peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. While Russia wasn’t invited, Volodymyr Zelensky said he hoped the talks would lead to a summit later this year and an endorsement of his 10-point formula for peace.

His plan demands that Russia hand over occupied Ukrainian territory – a clear nonstarter for Moscow – and calls for Russian troops to leave Ukraine before peace talks begin, something the Kremlin does not seem inclined to do.

The Jeddah talks followed a June summit in Copenhagen, but how was this one different?

First, after balking at the Danes’ invite last time, China agreed to attend. That was a big win for Ukraine, which knows that Beijing has Putin’s ear, and for the Saudis, who wanted the conference to be viewed by the West and Russia alike as a serious diplomatic forum.

Given that China continues to buy copious amounts of Russian oil and gas, helping the Russian economy stay afloat despite Western sanctions, having Beijing be part of a broader peace push is crucial. And as we’ve written before, China is the one country that has both the carrots and the sticks needed to persuade Putin and Zelensky to swallow compromise.

What’s more, a number of so-called non-aligned countries – including India, Brazil, and South Africa – that have so far refused to acquiesce to Western demands that they ditch relations with the Kremlin, also participated. Though they attended the summit in Copenhagen, the contours of this event were different given that it was hosted by a country with close ties to the Kremlin.

Did anything concrete come from the talks?

The Ukrainian delegation reportedly said Zelensky’s proposals were supported by several in attendance.

Meanwhile, China’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, noted that the participants had “many disagreements,” adding “we have heard different positions, but it is important that our principles are shared.” Beijing also reportedly expressed enthusiasm for a third round of talks.

Moscow, meanwhile, has referred to the peace talks as “doomed.”

We’ll be watching to see what Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is trying to rehabilitate his image after years of very bad PR and boost his profile as a legitimate international interlocutor, does next. He had a lot riding on this summit, and while Ukraine and Russia seem too far apart to imagine any significant progress, China’s involvement offers a glimmer of hope.
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Syria'n President Bashar Assad

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But Assad is now being embraced by many who had once vowed to continue treating him as a pariah. In recent weeks, Assad enjoyed the royal treatment when he attended an Arab League summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for the first time in over a decade, while a top Syrian official also rubbed shoulders with international diplomats at a World Health Organization summit in Geneva last week.

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Police secures the area in Berlin after 25 suspected members and supporters of a far-right group were detained during raids across Germany.

REUTERS/Christian Mang

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A thwarted German Jan. 6?

Is there a single German word for "narrowly averted right-wing coup attempt"? We aren't sure, but on Wednesday German authorities arrested 25 people accused of belonging to a domestic terror organization with plans to overthrow the government and replace it with German nobility in a throwback to pre-Weimar times. Some 3,000 police conducted raids in several German states as well as in Austria and Italy, detaining people associated with the Reichsbürger, a right-wing German conspiracy group, the far-right Alternativ für Deutschland party, and at least one Russian citizen. You’ll likely remember that a member of the AfD – a euroskeptic party that has capitalized on anti-immigrant sentiment in recent years to grow its base – tweeted after the Jan. 6 riot at the US Capitol that "Trump is fighting the same political fight — you have to call it a culture war." Harboring beliefs that Germany is being run by a “deep state'' (sound familiar?), the group reportedly planned to launch an armed attack on the Reichstag, Germany’s parliament. This is just the most recent reflection of a far-right extremist problem in Deutschland. Last year, the German government placed the AfD under surveillance for its far-right extremist affiliations, and early this year the government found that more than 300 employees in Germany's security apparatus harbored far-right views.

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