Alex Thurston, WP Review
German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Africa last week, traveling to Mali, Niger and Ethiopia. Issues of security dominated her visit to Mali, while migration was central to her trip to Niger. In Ethiopia, Merkel focused on security dialogue with the African Union, but her expression of support for greater democratization in the country was equally important. Merkel was notably blunter about Ethiopia's authoritarianism than U.S. President Barack Obama and American diplomats... Читать дальше...
Nick Witney, ECFR
A joint European defence budgetà won't happen, but smaller steps in the direction of pooling European defence resources could and should be taken.
Bill Jamieson, The Scotsman
A Belgian region's opposition to an EU trade deal with Canada is a bad omen for the UK's own negotiations writes Bill Jamieson
Stephen Kinzer, Boston Globe
Duterte's comments in China are his most straightforward declaration of a re-alignment yet. Since he took office in June, the Philippine president has alarmed Washington with his anti-American rhetoric, threats to end military cooperation with the U.S. and willingness to negotiate with China on the South China Sea. Ahead of his trip to Beijing, experts in Washington have beenà debatingà how serious Duterte's overtures to China are. Now they have an answer.
Daniel Korski, Politico EU
Behind the scenes of the flawed campaign to keep the UK in the EU.
Economist
How to contain Vladimir Putin's deadly, dysfunctional empire
Robert Zaretsky, RealClearWorld
What is shocking, for French and many non-French observers alike, is the discovery that their own politics are not exempt from our era of Trumped-down expectations. At the very heart of the French Fifth Republic, created by Charles de Gaulle nearly 60 years ago, is a presidency that reigns rather than rules. For good reason: De Gaulle was too preoccupied by the instability and frequent inability of earlier republics, with figurehead presidents and powerful legislatures, to govern the nation. Читать дальше...
N. Yousseff, DB
Four days ago, the U.S. defense secretary was predicting a âÂÂlasting defeat' of ISIS. Now, a top general is warning that the terror group is preparing for a guerrilla war.
R. Mohammed, Fiscal Times
With the Iraqi army battling to free Mosul from the clutches of ISIS, the coalition fo
Anthony Fisher, Reason
Five years after the fall of Gaddafi, some Libyans say life was better under dictatorship than the current chaos.
D. Simes, P. Chougule & P. Saunders, National Interest
America needs a foreign policy that abandons triumphalist clichés, flawed assumptions and predetermined conclusions in favor of facts and serious analysis.
Javier Solana & Strobe Talbott, NY Times
The first step toward a united Europe was a common market for coal and steel. France and Germany, enemies in both world wars, became partners in peacetime industry and trade. The architects of the European Project, subscribing to a binding ethos of Atlanticism, were inspired by America's success in molding the newly independent states from the original 13 colonies into âÂÂa more perfect union.â Europe's progress in that direction would never have been possible without the Marshall Plan... Читать дальше...
Salman Ahmad, Indian Express
Sharing culture humanises India and Pakistan â banning this pushes both from peace towards war.
N. Yousseff, DB
Four days ago, the U.S. defense secretary was predicting a âÂÂlasting defeat' of ISIS. Now, a top general is warning that the terror group is preparing for a guerrilla war.
R. Mohammed, Fiscal Times
With the Iraqi army battling to free Mosul from the clutches of ISIS, the coalition fo
Alvaro Uribe Velez, Wall Street Journal
A majority of Colombians this month voted to reject the government's deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the Marxist narcoterrorist group better known as the FARC. The government used and abused all its powers in an effort to ensure victory, but millions of voters decided that the country would be better off without giving in to the rebels' demands. All Colombians want peace. Any future deal, however, must address voters' substantive concerns.
Anthony Fisher, Reason
Five years after the fall of Gaddafi, some Libyans say life was better under dictatorship than the current chaos.
Allister Heath, Telegraph
There is no such thing as permanent victory in politics.
Rod Liddle, Spectator
It's not their side that worries me; it's oursÃ
Fedja Buric, Balkan Insight
The US needs to think seriously about NATO's future involvement in the Balkans, but Donald Trump's chaotic comments about the military alliance mean that the important issues are being obscured.
Reva Goujon, Stratfor
When planning for the future, a president must be as conscious of the past as he or she is gripped by the present. This does not mean fixating on voting records over the Iraq war or on contemporary leaders such as al Assad or former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. To understand the current map of the Middle East beyond the battle for Mosul, we must reach back nearly a century to an epic diplomatic showdown in Lausanne, Switzerland.
