Ana Palacio, Project Syndicate
75 years after the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, anti-Semitism is again on the rise across the Western world. This trend – and the weak response to it – is a harbinger of democratic decay.
Jacob Heilbrunn, New Republic
How a discredited foreign policy ideology continues to wreak havoc in Washington and around the world.
Wilson Center
Stream Is China Dictating What We See At The Movies? by The Wilson Center from desktop or your mobile device
Joseph Biden, Foreign Affairs
By nearly every measure, the credibility and influence of the United States in the world have diminished since President Barack Obama and I left office on January 20, 2017. President Donald Trump has belittled, undermined, and in some cases abandoned U.S. allies and partners. He has turned on our own intelligence professionals, diplomats, and troops. He has emboldened our adversaries and squandered our leverage to contend with national security challenges from North Korea to Iran... Читать дальше...
Con Coughlin, The National
While the two leaders share a cordial relationship, the US and UK have policy differences on a number of issues, such as the Iran nuclear deal.
Dmitri Trenin et al, Carnegie Moscow
Vladimir Putin appears to have finally set in motion the process of handing over the Kremlin to a successor after twenty years of running the country. Under the Russian constitution, which bars presidents from serving more than two consecutive terms, Putin must step down by the end of his current six-year term in 2024.
Mathieu Boulegue, Russia Matters
For now, the risk of a standoff between Russia and NATO in the Arctic remains low. However, should military tension increase in the region, naval assets and overall military deployments would largely play in Moscow’s favor in the European Arctic and in Washington’s in the Pacific Arctic.1 In the European theatre NATO members and their partners Sweden and Finland have limited Arctic-capable military forces present and reinforcements would take a long time to... Читать дальше...
Grigory Ioffe, Jamestown
The stalemate continues regarding Russia’s oil and natural gas prices for Belarus and the ensuing lack of long-term delivery contracts. No less newsworthy is the wide selection of opinions about the deadlocked negotiations. President Alyaksandr Lukashenka claims that Russia wants to sell Belarus oil at a higher price than the global standard. However, in reality, the entire latter-day haggling has been about a $10-per-ton premium for Russian oil companies. As for natural gas... Читать дальше...
Brahma Chellaney, Project Syndicate
US President Donald Trump once seemed to recognize that, as long as the US remains mired in endless wars in the Middle East, it will be unable to address in a meaningful way the threat China poses. But that has not stopped him from perpetuating the cycle of self-defeating American interventionism in the Middle East.
Jeff Spross, The Week
Official site of The Week Magazine, offering commentary and analysis of the day's breaking news and current events as well as arts, entertainment, people and gossip, and political cartoons.
David Gardner, Financial Times
The country’s new government faces continuing unrest and economic turmoil.
Hassan Hassan, National Review
wo weeks ago, the United States seemed on the brink of starting another war in the Middle East after a drone strike killed Iran’s most notorious spymaster, Qasem Soleimani, as he departed an international airport in Baghdad. The shadowy general, in charge of the Iranian equivalent of the CIA, was one of the most effective operatives in the Middle East’s history. He built a sprawling army of proxy militias throughout the region and helped expand Tehran’s dominance in nearby countries. Читать дальше...
Jeffrey Mankoff, The Hill
The announcement by President Vladimir Putin of changes to the Russian constitution in his state of the nation address this month, followed by the resignation of Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev, suggests that Russia has entered a new political era. With the country likely entering a transition period during which it could become more inwardly focused, the next American administration will then have...
George Friedman, Geopolitical Futures
Over the past few weeks, two odd things have happened in Russia. The first is that Russian President Vladimir Putin has restructured the government.
Art Keller, Quillette
The death of Iranian Quds Force commander General Quassem Soleimani has produced some truly bizarre media coverage. Some Western media outlets are framing Soleimani’s death as the loss of a deeply beloved hero, such in this January 7th episode of the New York Times The Daily podcast. The podcast spends more than 20 minutes describing how Soleimani was a beloved totem, a living security blanket that Iranians believe protected Iran from instability (by fostering instability... Читать дальше...
Irina Slav, Oil Price
For decades, the UAE has been actively investing its oil money into projects that would ensure the sustainability of its economy in the long run, even if oil demand eventually dies. It is already home to some of the most remarkable luxury real estate, including the world’s tallest building and the Palm Islands, but the UAE is also betting big on technology and renewables.
Alexander Sammon, American Prospect
The Indian prime minister’s global rehabilitation began before Trump, and it’s culminating in vicious anti-Muslim policies.
Tyler Cowen, Bloomberg View
Outside criticism of the country's policies will increasingly have to come from those with little stake there.
Alastair Gill, Worldcrunch
A sudden rash of constitutional changes, and the government's subsequent resignation, looks to be a maneuver for Putin to hold on to power indefinitely.
