Hal Brands, Bloomberg
B. Unal & M. Boulegue, Chatham House
With negotiations in Vienna between the US and Russia hoping to prevent the weaponization of space, how much do Russia’s satellites pose a threat to the peaceful use of outer space, ask Beyza Unal and Mathieu Boulègue?
Sajad Jiyad, ECFR
Iraq faces grave political, economic, and security challenges, including a resurgence by ISIS and escalating tension between the United States and Iran.
E. Hagedorn, Al Monitor
Doctors working in already short-staffed hospitals are struggling with a flare-up of new cases in the country's last rebel stronghold.
Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/07/syria-idlib-coronavirus-doctors-bab-al-hawa-hospital-virus.html#ixzz6TUVe6AVd
Tom Rogan, Washington Examiner
How Vladimir Putin must chuckle at the ease with which democratic leaders fall for his gimmicks.
John Culver, Lowy Interpreter
Deepening enmity could amplify Beijing’s assessment that
Washington may pursue the overthrow of the CCP as an end goal.
Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic
The origins of Putin’s worldview—and the rise of Russia’s new ruling class
Bush Center
Yu Yongding, Project Syndicate
The Chinese government is likely to face a tricky economic policy choice in the second half of this year. If it loosens its fiscal stance, public finances will worsen significantly. But if it cuts expenditure to offset the pandemic-related revenue shortfall, growth will be lower, with dire consequences.
Sylvain Kahn, Worldcrunch
The European Union has reached a historic accord, de facto unifying as one state by agreeing on a common debt. The EU now is a new form of society, in which sovereignty is shared reciprocally.
Mark Finley & Jim Krane, WP Review
The global clout of OPEC, never one of the world’s most admired institutions, reached a nadir in April when a dispute between Saudi Arabia and Russia triggered a price war just as global oil demand was collapsing due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Austin Bay, Strategy Page
Ethiopia and Egypt are now engaged in a vicious struggle over Nile River water rights. Their confrontation began well over a decade ago.
John Hulsman, CapX
One of the great glories of my job as a political risk analyst is to bring great intellectual treasures that have lain submerged for far too long to the fore. The perennially underrated geostrategic theorist, Nicholas J Spykman, is one such treasure.
Zsolt Darvas, Bruegel
The European Commission’s original allocation mechanism really favoured lower-income countries and to a large extent was based on pre-COVID economic data. The modification adopted by the European Council gives more consideration to the country size and the adverse economic impact of COVID-19. As a consequence, by using the Commission’s May 2020 economic forecasts, I estimate that only Germany and France will get more grants from the EU’s recovery fund compared to the Commission’s original proposal... Читать дальше...
R. Diamanti with Bush Center
Venezuelan dissident Rodrigo Diamanti explains the importance of protecting a free press from the reach of authoritarians; the way in which a populist dictator came to power in his home country; and how nativism, isolationism, populism, and protectionism are the symptoms of a disease that can destroy a democracy if left unchecked.
A. Kalinovksy, Russia Matters
Hardly a week seems to pass without some new crisis in Russian-American relations. The most recent was the revelation that U.S. President Donald Trump had ignored intelligence about bounties supposedly paid by Russian operatives to the Taliban in exchange for killing American soldiers. The veracity of this particular intelligence is questionable, in my view, but there is plausible evidence that Russia has been providing arms to the Taliban as Moscow seeks to play a more active role in Afghanistan. Читать дальше...
A. Hernandez-Morales, K. Oroschakoff & J. Barigazzi, Politico EU
Teleworking, not the coronavirus, is making urban living obsolete.
Edward Goldberg, The Hill
It is a tough analogy to compare the words of Mark Twain that the reports of his death were greatly exaggerated with the idea of globalization. But it is so true. During the pandemic, there has been endless commentary that the coronavirus has signaled the end of the era of globalization. Just like the reports of the death of Twain, this notion is at best premature.
Almut Balleer et al, Vox EU
The relative importance of supply and demand during the Covid-19 pandemic is a key input into effective policy design. This column uses firm-level data on planned price changes by firms from a monthly survey covering all relevant sectors of the German economy to show that both demand and supply forces coexist, but that demand deficiencies dominate in the short run.
A. Blatchford, Politico
Moving forward, Trudeau and Morneau may have to deal with more problems.
