Andreas Kluth, Bloomberg View
The new coronavirus coming out of China may or may not be the “big one.” But we should practice what we learned from SARS in 2003.
S. Hennessey & B. Wittes, The Atlantic
The president’s job is to oversee the whole of the executive branch, but under Trump the inverse is happening.
Juan Gabriel Tokatlian, Clarin
With a socialist government in Argentina and Brazil's arch-conservative president cold-shouldering each other, private initiatives could restore some cordiality to a relationship that is strategic for all of Latin America.
S. Kirchgaessner, Guardian
Exclusive: investigation suggests Washington Post owner was targeted five months before murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
Stephen Booth, Cons. Home
The UK is leaving the EU in two weeks’ time but, as Mark Wallace noted recently on this site, “much of the Government’s policy for life after EU membership is as yet unpublished and unknown.” What we probably can say we know is that this Government will prioritise the ability to diverge from...
Bonny Brooks, Arc
he UK Labour Party leadership contest kicked off in earnest on Saturday with the first official hustings taking place in Liverpool, a traditional Labour heartland that stood firm in the face of massive electoral losses in December. Somewhat different...
Ross Douthat, New York Times
Frud Bezhan, RFERL
Libya has been torn by civil war since longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi was killed in an uprising in 2011 following a NATO bombing campaign.
Alex Berezow, ACSH
Innovation is built upon an ecosystem that takes decades to mature. Yet, China has already made substantial advances in computer science, chemistry, engineering, and robotics, all of which pose a direct challenge to U.S. technological supremacy. However, the U.S. will remain dominant and largely unchallenged in biotech and medicine for the foreseeable future.
Tom Gardner, Foreign Policy
The Nobel Peace Prize-winning prime minister has disbanded Africa’s largest political party in an effort to reinvent the country’s politics—but some powerful players stand to lose, and they won’t go quietly.
Michael McFaul & Kathryn Stoner, Moscow Times
After twenty years in power, Russian President Vladimir Putin has performed better than Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, but has accomplished nowhere near what Deng Xiao Peng has in China or Lee Kwan Yew in Singapore. As Putin now proposes institutional changes to lock himself into power even longer, only the most hopeful should assume that the next ten (or twenty?) years of Russian dictatorship will perform any better than...
Hunter Marston, The Diplomat
Xi’s visit bolstered China-Myanmar ties, but the West can still compete.
Simon Waldman, The National
London has shown Tehran considerable goodwill but this needs to change, given Iran’s belligerence and hostage taking
Yao Yang, East Asia Forum
The conclusion of phase one of the trade negotiations between the United States and China has been welcomed by global markets because it has brushed off many uncertainties caused by the tense relationship between the world’s two largest economies over the past two years.
Faizan Mustafa & Aymen Mohammed, The Hindu
The Supreme Court is largely responsible for the chaos around the CAA and the NRC
M. Schiavenza, ChinaFile
Over the past three years, the Chinese government has implemented a highly repressive series of policies against Uighurs, a Muslim ethnic minority native to the country’s Xinjiang region. Uighurs live under unprecedented surveillance, their every move tracked through cameras and spyware-riddled mobile phones. The government strictly monitors them for signs...
Pavel Baev, Jamestown
The Russian political class suffered a massive shock from President Vladimir Putin’s address to the Federal Assembly last Wednesday (January 15) in which he delivered three unexpected bombshells (see EDM, January 16, 2020). The first was a set of vaguely formulated revisions to the Russian Constitution—even though Putin had pledged in 2005 never to open this fundamental document to changes “under any circumstances” due to unpredictable...
