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17 March 2022; MEMO: Greece does not adopt an anti-Turkiye foreign policy, foreign Minister, Nikos Dendias, announced yesterday.

Dendias stressed that his country was pursuing a foreign policy that had "national priorities, interests and principles."

"We are not adopting an anti-Turkish plan," he reiterated.

17 March 2022; MEMO: British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, held talks about energy security on Wednesday with the de facto leaders of Gulf oil exporters, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, but secured no public pledge to ramp up production, Reuters reports.

Johnson's trip to Abu Dhabi and Riyadh was aimed at securing oil supplies and raising pressure on President Vladimir Putin over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which led to sweeping Western sanctions on Moscow and soaring world energy prices.

New Delhi, Mar 16 (PTI) Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the nation's top oil firm, has bought as much as 3 million barrels of crude oil that Russia had offered at steep discount to prevailing international rates, sources said.

The purchase, made through a trader, is the first since Russia's February 24 invasion of Ukraine that brought international pressure for isolating Putin administration.

Sources aware of the matter said IOC bought Urals crude for May delivery at a discount of USD 20-25 a barrel to dated Brent.

NEW YORK, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Almost three-quarters of Americans said they're unhappy with U.S. President Joe Biden's handling of inflation, which is now widely considered the country's top priority for voters, reported Newsweek on Monday, citing an ABC News/Ipsos poll.

A record high of 70 percent of the general public said they disapprove of Biden's response to inflation, said the report, noting that the figure is slightly higher than the 69 percent disapproval Biden received for his handling of inflation in previous ABC/Ipsos polls from the end of January and mid-December.

New Delhi, Mar 16 (PTI) A visit to India by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi later this month could be on the cards but there is no finality on it yet, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

There is no official word by the Ministry of External Affairs or the Chinese government on the possible visit.

If the visit takes place, it will be the first trip by a senior Chinese leader to India after the eastern Ladakh standoff between the two countries began in May 2020.

15 March 2022; MEMO: Saudi Arabia has invited Chinese President, Xi Jinping, to visit Riyadh as the Kingdom looks to deepen ties with Beijing amid strained relations with Washington, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, citing people familiar with the plan.

15 March 2022; MEMO: Israel's Yesha Council yesterday confiscated vegetables and fruits from Palestinian farmers' stalls in the occupied northern Jordan Valley, a week after they were demolished.

Rights activist, Fares Fuqaha, told Safa that the Israeli forces had confiscated "five vegetable and fruit kiosks owned by Palestinian families," adding that the stalls were demolished "six days ago".

15 March 2022; MEMO: Russia got written guarantees under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that will protect its cooperation with Iran against the recent US and EU sanctions, noting that the guarantees are included in the text of the agreement, Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, said on Tuesday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Speaking at a news conference in Moscow after a meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Lavrov said Russia causes no obstacles for the restoration of the deal.

by Assoc. Prof. Dmitry V. Shlapentokh

The West's attempt to marginalise Russia and expel it from Western economic arrangements might well work. Still, a weaker Russia would have no choice but to embrace China. And this would help China to achieve global predominance in the future.

15 March 2022; MEMO: The top US General for Forces in the Middle East said, on Tuesday, that he believed the United States would provide Egypt with F-15 aircraft, Reuters reports.

"I think we have good news in that we're going to provide them with F-15s, which was a long, hard slog," General Frank McKenzie, Head of US Central Command, said during a congressional hearing.

McKenzie did not provide details on timing or how many F-15 aircraft, made by Boeing BA.N, would be provided.