Following a week of tensions in Zimbabwe, which found the military intervening in the nation's politics and putting president Mugabe under house-arrest, Robert Mugabe resigned as president of the country. The move ends the 37-year reign of Mugabe, who ruled with a hard hand and who was unable to prevent Zimbabwe's economic downfall. The military coup was greeted with popular support and many Zimbabweans, who have only known one leader in their life, are rejoyced with whatever change may come.
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Russia, Iran and Turkey, three parties deeply involved in the Syrian conflict, met on Wednesday in Sochi for talks on how to bring peace to Syria. While Russia and Iran support Syria's incumbent Assad, Turkey has sided with the opposition. However, Turkey's support for the rebels changed somehow to a worry of enstrengthened Kurds around the borders of Turkey and Syria. As such, in the peace process brought forward by the three countries, Turkey insisted the Kurds will not have a place a the negotiation table.
Read More On Friday's third vote to extend the Joint Investigative Mechanism in Syria, the UN Security Council failed to reach consensus after Russia's veto. The veto blocks the continuation of a UN investigation into the use of chemical weapons in Syria, which crossed Obama's 'red line' last April. This is the third vote to fail following a Russian veto, which prompted France, the UK and America to heavily criticise Russia's behaviour regarding the Syrian conflict. The veto is the 11th so far in a series of UN resolutions trying to solve the conflict in Syria.
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Russia's largest military exercise since the end of the Cold War, Zapad (West) 2017, has started on Thursday amid concerns from the West. The drill, which is conducted with Russia's neighbour Belarus, involves no more than 12.000 soldiers according to the Kremlin. NATO and its allies claim the number of soldiers used could range up to an eightfold of that. The drills will mainly take place in Belarus, with one conducted in Kaliningrad, Russia's enclave on the Baltic Sea.
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The bridge that will connect the Crimea with Russian mainland is nearing completion following the installation of a giant arch between two sections of the bridge. The arch, designed so that ships can pass underneath, is one of the final stages of the 3 billion euro project. Politically, the bridge is important as the Crimea had no direct connection with Russia yet. The bridge thus constitutes an important strengthening of Russia's claim of the peninsula, which is not recognised by either the US or the EU.
Read More Ukraine's president Petro Poroshenko visited the White House on Tuesday, where he received a low-key welcome. In contrast to other heads of state, Poroshenko was not greeted by Trump personally. Poroshenko met primarily with Mike Pence, the Vice-President. After a meeting with Trump himself in the Oval Office, Poroshenko met with defence secretary Mattis and secretary of foreign affairs Tillerson. The White House followed up on the meeting by issuing new financial sanctions aimed at Russian individuals.
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Within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), the member states of the EU met the countries of the Eastern Partnership on Friday in Brussels. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and the EU came to a joint declaration emphasising the need to tackle issues sovereignty and unresolved conflicts. They set out an action plan of 20 deliverables to be implemented by 2020, concerning areas of good governance, transport, energy security and youth employment.
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After a frosty start of the newly elected Macron and the government of Poland the two leaders met on Thursday amid talks of a French-Polish submarine deal. In Paris, both Macron and Szydło struck a conciliatory tone, emphasising the similarities between the two countries as well as finding common ground on issues such as the EU post-Brexit and defence cooperation. Macron, although he expressed his preoccupation with the state of rule of law in Poland, said he would leave the matter to the European Commission and that he would not press the issue at this time. On top of that, he will be attending the 100th aniversary of the independence of Poland next year in November.
Read MoreAfter the results started dropping in on Wednesday following the presidential election earlier that week, Honduras faces a political crisis. The opposition's candidate Salvador Nasralla, who initially seemed to win, appears to be losing the election to the incumbent Juan Orlando Hernández. The election and the subsequent turmoil has attracted attention from around the world, with the European Parliament and the Organisation of American Churches calling for tensions to calm down.
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Although expected to win, former president Sebastián Piñera had to concede victory to two left-wing parties. The leading left-wing party, the Broad Front, is often compared to Spain's podemos. Although regarded by some analists as populist left, the gains of the Broad Front may also indicate a new political generation. Coupled with a high percentage of abstention votes, the country faces a strong dissatisfaction with the political class. As such, the Broad Front presented a new kind of politics and gained from this approach.
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