Jan Morris, The Spectator
You can see the legacy of the Celtic Tiger years, in good roads and boarded-up shops, but something different is now abroad.
John O'Sullivan, National Review
Altogether the so-called populist threat is a damning verdict on the political competence and democratic decency of the mainstream Right.
Pankaj Mishra, The Guardian
The modern west has been admirably different from other civilisations in its ability to counterbalance the arrogance of power with recognition of its excesses. Now, however, it is not only the bankers who radically expand our notion of impunity. Their chums in politics and the media coax, with criminal irresponsibility, the public into deeper fear and insecurity – and into blaming their overall plight on various enemies (immigrants, budding terrorists in Calais’s jungle... Читать дальше...
Ben Hubbard, NY Times
Saudi Arabia carried out its first mass execution in more than three decades on Saturday, putting to death dozens of militants linked to Al Qaeda as well a prominent cleric who had criticized the government’s treatment of the country’s Shiite minority.
Javier Solana, Project Syndicate
Turkey should reflect on its position. It cannot risk being perceived as a country that jeopardizes basic freedoms, thereby widening the gap with the EU. Two factors will sustain its position as an essential ally of the US and the EU: improved relations with the Kurds and progress toward a settlement in Cyprus. In the Syrian peace process, the decisions Turkey makes can either drive or impede progress toward a settlement.
Dan Hodges, Daily Telegraph
Boris Johnson is by no means certain to be the Tory’s new champion. George Osborne remains favourite to claim that crown – and by a considerable margin. But 2016 is the year Boris Johnson will finally clamber into the ring. And as a result, all eyes will turn to him.
Robert Fulford, National Post
The usual explanation was that Malaysian governments hoped to create ties with Arab countries and to please the Muslims who make up half the population. It was political but it also became personal, an expression of the views held by Mahathir Mohamad.
Debra Kamin, Foreign Policy
In the aftermath of World War II, art looted from Jews spread across the globe -- including to the world’s only Jewish state. Now, there’s an effort underway to return the pieces to their rightful owners.
Jim Hoagland, WP
Germany’s citizens and leaders have earned the world’s respect over the decades since World War II by repeatedly taking the moral and political high ground. From Willy Brandt’s imaginative Ostpolitik approach to relations with the Eastern bloc to the peaceful and effective reunification of their divided country in 1990, and on to Angela Merkel’s principled welcome of Syrian refugees in 2015, Germans have set standards that the rest of us have to admire. So why in the world are... Читать дальше...
Robin Wright, The New Yorker
Both Havana and Tehran began coming to terms with their nemesis this year. Part of the policy shift is a response to advanced age, an attempt to insure more years in the political life cycle. A mix of pragmatism, reality, and necessity contributed. Neither revolution is on the cusp of collapse. But both are aware that the largest communities of Cuban exiles and Iranian exiles are in the United States—one reason there’s better Cuban food in Miami than in Havana and... Читать дальше...
Doug Saunders, Globe and Mail
Megaprojects had long been out of fashion. During the two decades before the 2008 economic crisis, many governments shifted away from enormous rail, electrical and city-building initiatives and generally stuck to local, incremental things: no more CN Towers and high-speed rail lines. Western foreign-aid spending shifted away from dams and superhighways and focused on digging wells, handing out mosquito nets and inoculating children – pointillist initiatives that avoided the corruption... Читать дальше...
Zheng Wang, The Diplomat
When speaking about China’s past dictators, such as Chairman Mao, we often overlook the important question of how Mao became a dictator. When he became a powerful leader, his followers and officials lavished praise upon him, creating a cult of hero worship centered on Mao, and in doing so they hid from him the truth and realities that existed beyond the veil of his built-up persona. It was the bureaucrats that made him a dictator. After the end of the Cultural Revolution... Читать дальше...
Mary Dejevsky, Independent
How come Isis – or Islamic State, or Isil, or Daesh – has Western governments in such thrall? Some reasons were sound. There was the impressive speed of its advance over the past two years. There was the strength of its ideas. And there was the ruthless genius of its propaganda, which used modern technology to shock Western opinion by means of gruesome videos of beheadings. There was its offer, too – which appealed to some young Westerners – of a cause that demanded sacrifice... Читать дальше...
Christopher Hill, PS
American foreign policy has traditionally oscillated between intervention and isolation. Today, it is much more complicated than that. As the threat to the US becomes clearer with every terrorist attack, isolationists become ardent interventionists. But their interventionism tends to be unilateral. Put another way, unilateralism is the internationalism of the isolationists.
Special Correspondent, Foreign Policy
The grandson of the Islamic Republic's founder is entering the political fray in Tehran — and could just be President Rouhani's savior.
Paul Saunders, TNI
Obama presumably knew in 2011 that he was unwilling to make the emerging civil war one of his foreign-policy priorities, much less to commit significant political capital to mobilizing public and congressional support for military operations. Yet, likely in part to avoid criticism, he did get involved by saying that the time has come for President Assad to step aside in August of that year. It was an understandable sentiment in the wake of the Syrian leaders brutal suppression... Читать дальше...
