Tension rises between Beijing and Naypyidaw after four Chinese civilians died in an explosion apparently caused by a bomb launched by Burmese warplane engaged in military operations against Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA)[1]. The incident occurred on March 13 near the city of Lincang, in the south-western Chinese province of Yunnan. Political relations are particularly tense also because a similar episode happened just a few days earlier when some civilians’ buildings were damaged or destroyed by a stray shell.

Minsk agreements were signed on February 11. This is the first of a series of weekly updates aimed to describe the implementation status of the first three crucial point of the agreement:

1.      Immediate and full bilateral ceasefire (to take effect from 00:00 local time on February 15),

2.      Withdrawal of all heavy weapons by both sides,

3.      Effective monitoring and verification regime for the ceasefire and withdrawal of heavy weapons.

The killing of Boris Nemtsov, occurred on February 27 in Moscow, brought a thorny issue back to the public attention, namely the Russian military involvement in Ukrainian crisis. Accusations and denials have been continuously following one another since the beginning of the fighting. 

The web is bouncing this piece of news: Italian warships, included the amphibious vessel San Giorgio, left Italy and are now moving toward Libya.

Theoretically speaking, the purpose is to carry out a military exercise known as operation Mare Aperto, which has been performed since early ‘90es. 

It could be argued that some kind of “shadow objective” is to simply “show the muscles” given the chaotic situation in Libya, quite a common practice as proved, for example, by NATO’s drills in the Baltic republics, by Russian exercises behind Ukrainian border and by Turkish or Greek exercises in the Aegean Sea.