January 13, 2025

Estonia (photo by P. Oskolkov)
In December 2024, Mart Kalm, the rector of the Estonian Academy of Arts (Eesti Kunstiakadeemia, EKA), announced that this university won’t continue the cooperation with Dr. Jonathan Ventura from Shenkar College in Ramat Gan (Israel), whose course has been in the EKA curriculum since 2019 and should have taken place again in February 2025. Prof. Kalm added that EKA is “no longer open” to cooperation with Israeli universities. There was no clear reasoning behind this.
The fall of the Assad regime in Syria has revived Turkey’s plans to construct oil and gas pipelines through the country, turning it into a regional “energy corridor” for neighboring states. Some of these plans would offer the Arab Gulf States a more convenient land route for exporting energy to Europe through Turkey, posing a challenge to Israel’s similar aspirations. Israel has other opportunities to export its natural gas to new markets via pipeline, but they pose the risk of undermining Israel’s relationship with Greece and Cyprus. Israel should follow the "pipeline game" in Syria closely to ensure that new economic opportunities in the region don't pass it by.

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