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Arab News
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
How Russia established deterrence with its neighbors
During a recent vacation in Georgia, it was interesting to see how people perceived the war in Ukraine. It was also interesting to see the war's impact on their own understanding of how their country should deal with Russia in order to avoid suffering the same fate as Ukraine. Georgia is a small country next to a strong neighbor and every Georgian I met told me a wise policy would be to be on good terms with Russia and not to rely on the West. Russia controls almost 20 percent of Georgian territory. It rules Abkhazia on the Black Sea and South Ossetia in the north of the country. The border between Russia and Georgia is studded with mountains. Russia wants to keep an eye on its smaller neighbor, especially as it is a candidate country for both the EU and NATO. Moscow wants to make sure that, behind that mountainous area, the West will not push for a government that is antagonistic to the Kremlin. Last month, the Georgian parliament's speaker criticized NATO's response to Georgia's membership request, which was made in 2008, saying that the country needs more than words, it needs real protection. The impression is that the West uses countries like Ukraine as fodder to undermine Russia, while having no real interest in their well-being. More than three years on from Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine is destroyed. It has lost parts of its territory. It will probably become a rump state and there is no real support for stopping Russia. On the contrary, facing Russian determination, the US is pressuring the weaker party, which is Ukraine, to compromise. My tour guide told me that this goes back centuries. Whenever Georgians have had problems with their neighbors, they have asked for help from European countries but have never received any assistance. I am not sure if this is true or not, but it is certainly the prevailing perception. The lesson is very clear: it is better for the neighbors of Russia to toe the line with Moscow rather than to butt heads with the Russian president. The West is unreliable — it will offer empty words of support but will never confront Russia to save a democracy. If Russia's neighbors are now convinced of that, then Moscow has already won. It has established deterrence. It is important to understand the Russian psyche, which extends beyond the current president. It goes back to the Second World War. Russians believe that the West is arrogant and treacherous. They believe the US left Russia to bear the brunt of fighting the Nazis. They believe the Americans adopted a strategy of buck-passing. They let the Soviet army do the bulk of the fighting and the US intervention was deliberately delayed. The Normandy landings only happened once victory was a done deal. Countries like Georgia understand that. They will not settle for promises from the West. Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib Late former President Mikhail Gorbachev complained about the West's arrogance. The Soviet Union was a superpower, which the US did its best to fight economically during the Cold War. Gorbachev accepted the dismantling of the Soviet Union in return for promises from the West that it would help lift Russia economically. However, according to a well-known Russian professor colleague of mine, those promises were nothing but lies. Once the communist threat was gone, the West did not lift a finger to prevent the economic collapse of Russia and the independent states that were part of the Soviet Union. The Russians claim that one of the conditions for dismantling the Soviet Union was to stop the expansion of NATO. However, NATO has its open-door policy and it has kept on expanding to the east. NATO has deployed missile defense systems in Poland and Romania. When Russian President Vladimir Putin asked George W. Bush about this, the US president insisted that they were to prevent Iranian missiles from reaching Europe. Putin did not buy it. There is deep mistrust of the West. Hence, even though the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia still wants to be sure that all its neighbors are in its orbit. Even if this means it has to cross mountains and subdue a piece of land to make sure it can keep a close eye on a neighboring government, as it did with Georgia. Russia is also playing the minorities and ethnicities card. In Ukraine, it is using the ethnic Russian population in the Donbas to justify its invasion. However, regardless of whether the president really cares about these people, the Russians do not want NATO troops on their doorstep. NATO's raison d'etre is to counter Russia. During the Cold War, there was a kind of military balance. The Warsaw Pact was an Eastern alliance to counter NATO. The fall of the Soviet Union led to the demise of the Warsaw Pact. Nevertheless, Russia still feels it needs to keep the states in its vicinity in its orbit to fend off any threats emanating from the Western camp. This is why it sees the war in Ukraine as an existential matter. Western countries do not see the war in Ukraine as an existential matter. This is why Russia is ready to sacrifice far more than they are. Countries like Georgia understand that. They will not settle for promises from the West. They need a firm commitment, which the West is unable or unwilling to provide. Until it does so, Russia's neighbors know that their security is better guaranteed by being on good terms with Moscow. The fact that Russia was able to impose this attitude on its neighbors means it has won. Moscow has established deterrence. That is the purpose of war: to deter any current or future threats. No neighbor of Moscow wants to develop a relationship with the West that will fuel the ire of the Russian bear. • Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib is a specialist in US-Arab relations with a focus on lobbying. She is co-founder of the Research Center for Cooperation and Peace Building, a Lebanese nongovernmental organization focused on Track II.
France 24
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- France 24
Demna bows out at Balenciaga with star-studded Paris catwalk show
The final collection from the 44-year-old -- who is switching to fellow Kering-owned brand Gucci -- was watched by celebrities from Nicole Kidman to Katy Perry. The austere Haute Couture Autumn/Winter 2025 collection featured women modelling garments in mostly black and white with exaggerated shoulders and padded hips, while men wore oversized jackets and trousers so long they gathered on the floor. The use of male models was a typically convention-breaking move from the showman, with Couture Week usually dedicated to handcrafted, one-of-a-kind creations for female celebrities and VIPs. Veteran French actor Isabelle Huppert also made an appearance on the catwalk as did 1990s supermodel Eva Herzigova. The designer from the war-torn region of Abkhazia in Georgia, who is known by a single name, has made regular headlines at the Paris-based Spanish heritage brand during his decade in charge with his $2,000 "Ikea" bag and a $1,800 so-called "trash pouch". Demna was also behind a much-criticised 2023 advertising campaign that appeared to reference child abuse, leading to a rebuke from billionaire Kering CEO Francois-Henri Pinault, who watched Wednesday's show with his wife Salma Hayek. Fellow designer Franck Sorbier, who presented his own collection inspired by Inca culture on Wednesday, praised Demna's impact on Balenciaga in an interview with AFP. "It's a brand that has managed to find its footing again, that forged its own path and succeeded in returning to the forefront of fashion -- which was far from guaranteed, given that there were many attempts along the way, and not all of them worked," Sorbier said backstage. Demna appeared at the end of his show to acknowledge the applause while wearing a black hoodie and cap paired with combat trousers. Big shoes Later on Wednesday, Belgian designer Glenn Martens was also set to find himself in the spotlight for his first collection for Maison Margiela, following his appointment in January to succeed British designer John Galliano. Martens has big shoes to fill, with the house's last couture show under the eccentric Galliano in January 2024 considered a huge success by critics. The day also saw Dutch duo Viktor & Rolf and Hong Kong's Robert Wun, as well as France's Sorbier unveil their latest work. Wun drew inspiration from the world of cinema and theatre for his spectacular show at the Theatre du Chatelet, which opened with a model with dramatic bloodied lips wearing a thick white dress adorned with red handprint stains. Viktor & Rolf once again used humour in their collection, featuring 15 pairs of eccentric black dresses, full of pleats and layers of fabric -- tulle, crinoline and more -- in a style reminiscent of 19th-century gowns. Downturn The luxury and fashion industry as a whole is suffering a downturn in sales due to weaker demand in China, fears about inflation and global instability. Having multiplied sales at Balenciaga over his decade in charge, Demna's next task of reviving the flagging fortunes of under-performing Gucci is seen as a huge challenge. Shares in luxury conglomerate Kering, which owns both Balenciaga and Gucci, fell around 12 percent on the day his nomination was announced in March and have sunk further since. Some analysts have questioned whether Demna's recipe for success at Balenciaga -- which leant heavily on provocation and showmanship -- can be replicated at the more classic Italian house, which generates most of Kering's profits. He was seen as having returned to a winning combination on Wednesday with Kardashian, a friend and brand ambassador. The duo attended the Met Gala in 2021 together dressed in his head-to-toe black shrouds which obscured their faces. "If Demna and Kardashian were good at one thing, it was making headlines," wrote fashion bible Vogue.
France 24
06-07-2025
- Business
- France 24
'Brilliant artist': Provocateur Demna takes on slumping Gucci
The 44-year-old, who fled the war-wracked Georgian region of Abkhazia as a child and dropped his surname "Gvasalia" in 2021, will bow out with a last show for Balenciaga on Wednesday before switching to Gucci -- both firms owned by France's luxury giant Kering. "Demna's contribution to the industry, to Balenciaga, and to the group's success has been tremendous," Kering chairman and CEO Francois-Henri Pinault said at the time. "His creative power is exactly what Gucci needs." Investors were not so convinced and shares in Kering, which counts on Gucci as its main profit generator, fell around 12 percent on the day of the announcement before slumping even further. Other more established and mainstream designers from Hedi Slimane, Maria Grazia Chiuri or Pierpaolo Piccioli had been linked to the vacancy. Some analysts have questioned whether Demna's recipe for success at Balenciaga -- which leant heavily on provocative, streetwear-influenced design and showmanship -- can be replicated at the more classic Italian house. "He is iconoclast and ironic, which is good to attract attention toward a small brand like Balenciaga," Luca Solca, a luxury analyst at the Bernstein brokerage, wrote afterwards. "However, we are not sure the strategy would work as well for a bigger brand." - 'Absolutely uncompromising' - Demna's final show for Balenciaga will take place on Wednesday during Haute Couture fashion week in Paris and he will join the Italian label the very next day. During a decade at the Spanish-born but Paris-based brand, he drove sales and attention sharply higher with a mix of headline-grabbing creations as well as personal publicity -- not always positive. He achieved notoriety with his $2,000 "Ikea" bag, a luxury leather version of the 99-cent original. He followed it up with an $1,800 garbage bag -- the so-called "trash pouch" -- in a show in March 2022 that was dedicated to Ukrainian refugees. Other daring designs included a head-to-toe black shroud that US reality television star Kim Kardashian -- a personal friend -- wore to the Met Gala in 2021. A-list celebrity endorsements have been plentiful, but have not always worked out. Kanye West —- Kardashian's ex and another friend -- opened Balenciaga's show in October 2022 shortly before the first of several anti-Semitic outbursts, and the group had to cut ties with the rapper. Demna's lowest point came in February 2023 when he was forced to apologise for an ad campaign that appeared to reference child abuse and had underage models in what looked like bondage gear. He has plenty of fans among Gen Z tastemakers, however. "I've always gravitated toward Balenciaga, because I love Demna's vision," British pop sensation Charli XCX told British Vogue last year. "He feels like he's speaking his own language, which is absolutely uncompromising, and to me, that's what makes a brilliant artist." - 'Aggression and darkness' - Annual sales at Balenciaga were estimated to be $350 million when he arrived and had surged to about $2 billion in 2022, according to GQ magazine. Gucci's fortunes have headed in the other direction: they slid 23 percent last year, prompting Kering to fire creative director Sabato de Sarno after only two years in the job. Demna is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp in Belgium and went on to work at Maison Margiela and Vuitton. He co-founded the label Vetements with his brother in 2014, a year before he was named to the top job at Balenciaga. For many years, his childhood trauma fleeing pro-Russian separatists in his homeland affected his work, but he told Vanity Fair in 2021 that counselling, meditation and exercise had helped exorcise some demons. "Fashion used to feel like a battle for me. That is why there was a lot of aggression and darkness in what I did. Today I feel at peace with the system," he said. © 2025 AFP
Russia Today
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Russia detains airport worker plotting sabotage for Ukraine – FSB (VIDEO)
A Russian citizen working at the international airport in Sukhumi, the capital of the Republic of Abkhazia, has been detained on suspicion of cooperating with Ukrainian military intelligence and preparing an act of sabotage, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) announced on Tuesday. According to the FSB, the 45-year-old suspect was employed as a specialist in the airport's engineering and technical service. He allegedly maintained contact with a representative of Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) and passed on work-related information. The man was arrested in cooperation with Abkhazia's state security service. The agency said the suspected was preparing to hand over schematics of the facility to Ukrainian intelligence services in order to facilitate a potential sabotage attack. 'The individual proactively planned to transfer layout diagrams of the Sukhumi international airport and its adjacent restricted-access parking area – used to receive official international delegations – to the adversary,' the agency said. During interrogation, the suspect reportedly confessed to collaborating with Ukrainian intelligence and said he had already carried out several assignments. He also admitted to gathering intelligence on visits to Abkhazia by senior Russian officials. 'In March 2025, an unknown person contacted me via Telegram,' the suspect said in a video released by the FSB. 'He said he had found me through anti-war and anti-Russian online groups and invited me to join the fight against the regime. I agreed and proactively suggested organizing an explosion at the VIP parking area in Sukhumi.' A criminal case has been opened under the article of espionage. Earlier the same day, the FSB announced the detention of another Russian citizen in Krasnodar Region. He is accused of preparing a terrorist attack at an administrative building linked to the region's energy infrastructure. Authorities also claim the suspect shared information with Ukrainian special services about the movements of Russian Black Sea Fleet vessels. On Monday, the FSB detained two Russian nationals suspected of planning a sabotage attack on a defense industry facility in Moscow Region. The men were arrested while attempting to smuggle explosive devices, disguised as power banks, onto the premises.
Arab News
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Putin eases access to Russian citizenship for Georgian breakaway regions
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday signed a decree simplifying access to Russian citizenship for people from two Georgian breakaway regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Under the decree, applicants will no longer be required to permanently reside in Russia to get citizenship, or prove their knowledge of the Russian language or culture. Abkhazia and South Ossetia are recognized by most of the world as Georgian territory, but has been under de-facto Russian control since a brief 2008 war between Moscow and Tbilisi. In Abkhazia, another pro-Russian president recently won an election after the previous one was ousted following tense protests over a bill giving Russians easier access to coastal property along the Black Sea. Georgia and Russia have no diplomatic relations since the 2008 war, but critics accuse the current Georgian ruling party of being pro-Russian, and claim it came to power as a result of a rigged election. Georgia, which shares a border with Russia, declined to join international financial and economic sanctions against Moscow over its Ukraine offensive, or to support Kyiv with military equipment.
