William Courtney & Michael Haltzel, RealClearWorld
Belarus may be moving to the verge of political change. Mass demonstrations and labor strikes protesting President Alexander Lukashenko’s re-election, which is widely seen as fraudulent, along with police brutality are powering the shift. Whether any transition is peaceful and improves governance may depend in part on the West. If allowed to help, the West might facilitate dialogue and a stable power transfer while defusing geopolitical risks.
Jon Finer with Global Brief
GB breaks bread with the young American geokrat who headed policy planning at the State Department to discuss the state and direction of American foreign policy and strategy
Emilio Casalicchio, Politico EU
Alex Berezow, Geopolitical Futures
Nationalism is all the rage these days. Following decades of globalization, the pendulum has begun to swing back the other direction, triggering fears that nationalist policies will lead to a breakdown in international cooperation and a destabilization of the world order. This, in turn, has led to much hand-wringing over “vaccine nationalism,” the notion that governments will take a “me first” approach to vaccines, further exacerbating the health crisis. Читать дальше...
Ivan Krastev, FP
Alice Pannier, War on the Rocks
This is a truly momentous year for British foreign and defense policy. The United Kingdom is now undertaking two lines of effort that could affect its national security for generations. First, the country is negotiating a deal that will determine its “future relationship” with the European Union, most importantly in trade. The process is complex, politically fraught, and is supposed to be wrapped up by the end of the...
Julian Lee, Bloomberg
S. Nagy, JT
Aug. 15 marks the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. How can we understand where Japan has come from, where it is today and where it is going? To answer these questions, it’s important to reflect on just how much the world has changed since Japan’s surrender.
Josef Joffe, The American Interest
If you liked the 1930s, you will love the 2020s. Again, it is crisis-overload: COVID, economic catastrophe, the assault on free trade, and the rise of illiberalism on the left and on the right. With the United States abdicating, who will answer the 911 calls?
J. Quinn, NRO
All may not be lost, but Beijing’s crackdown has ensured that the movement faces a bleak short-term future.
Jessica Mathews, New York Review of Books
Seventy-five years ago, at 8:16 on the clear morning of August 6, the world changed forever. A blast equivalent to more than 12,000 tons of TNT, unimaginably larger than that of any previous weapon, blew apart the Japanese city of Hiroshima, igniting a massive firestorm. Within minutes, between 70,000 and 80,000 died and as many were injured. Hospitals were destroyed or badly damaged, and more than 90 percent of the city’s doctors and nurses were killed or wounded. Читать дальше...
Frida Ghitis, World Politics Review
The news came unexpectedly last week, sending shockwaves across the country. Colombia’s powerful former president, Alvaro Uribe, was ordered by its Supreme Court to be put under house arrest. Colombians were in disbelief. It’s impossible to overstate the magnitude of Uribe’s role in the country’s politics over the past two decades. To some, he is a hero who saved the nation; to others, a murderous villain who trampled human rights. But everyone agrees,... Читать дальше...
Mohamad Bazzi, Foreign Affairs
A Decaying Sectarian System Kindled Beirut’s Port Blast
Rod Liddle, Times of London
n the morning of August 6, 1945, as the first atomic bomb detonated 2,000ft above the city of Hiroshima, Unit 731 of the Imperial Japanese Army was still busily going about its work, murdering civilians and captured enemy soldiers through the most bestial, almost unimaginable, “medical experiments”. These included live vivisections, drilling through prisoners’ skulls, gassing, injecting with pathogens and using flame-throwers on women tied to stakes.
Shaun Walker, Guardian
As many as 100,000 people attend biggest protest in country’s history in defiant and euphoric mood.
James Stavridis, Proceedings
When I was Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, I spent an enormous amount of time on the road. Each year, I would visit each of the Alliance’s capitals a couple of times a year. I’d also go to the nations that were not NATO allies but strong partners in Afghanistan. I did it because I wanted to have a human interaction and to build personal trust with the leaders of those nations and their militaries. In the U.S. military we have a saying, “You can’t surge trust.” In times of crisis... Читать дальше...
Richard Haass, Project Syndicate
The chances of a Sino-American cold war are far higher today than they were just months ago. Even worse, the chances of an actual war, resulting from an incident involving the countries’ militaries, are also greater.
Zachary Karabell, Foreign Policy
Applying 20th-century analogies to the U.S.-Chinese relationship is a misuse of history—and shows a misunderstanding of the present.
