After a short break, welcome back to another edition of My Take 5, your weekly round-up of top international news. This week, we are covering the scheduled Iran-US ceasefire talks in Pakistan, the Orthodox Easter ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war, Moldova's pullout from the Russia-led Commonwealth of Independent States, Taiwanese KMT chairwoman Cheng Li-wun's trip to China, and Mali's de-recognition of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. So let's get to it:
Iran war ceasefire and talks: With the US and Iran agreeing to a two-week ceasefire to allow for negotiations to end the Iran war, all eyes are now on Islamabad. Pakistan has emerged as the mediator between the US and Iran, passing messages between the two sides and engaging with other regional players such as Egypt and Turkey to create an opening for negotiations. Both Tehran and Washington have acknowledged Islamabad’s role, giving it due credit. After all, the war was threatening to reach a whole new level of catastrophe with Trump threatening to target Iranian civilian infrastructure and bomb the country to the stone age. Iran, meanwhile, remained defiant and had practically shut the Strait of Hormuz, causing much global economic pain through rising energy prices.
