Paul Goodman, CH
There is no substantial connection between the current EU trade talks and Dominic Cummings’ recent work. The former special adviser was increasingly preoccupied with the Government’s “moonshot” plans for new Covid-19 tests. His friends say that he was leading in building an entirely new system from scratch, because the NHS test and trace scheme has not delivered the results that Ministers had hoped for, particularly on tracing and self-isolation.
Michael Green & Gregory Poling, CSIS
Southeast Asia is on the frontlines of U.S.-China competition and a vital arena for defending U.S. economic and security interests and those of its closest allies. The region itself is not of one mind when it comes to Beijing or Washington, but it generally favors a greater U.S. presence. Nevertheless, faith in American reliability has been shaken, and partners in the region are eager for signals that the United States is committed and ready to provide alternatives to Chinese hegemony. Читать дальше...
Michael Rubin, 1945
Here in Washington when a new administration is set to take over–well, in due time–we love to play the game of asking what will happen in every single corner of the world. I think it is a good exercise, for the most part, allowing many times fresh ideas, old concepts, and lots of opinions to get floated and refloated and compared in the weeks leading up to January 20. So, in that spirit, I asked my friend
Niall Ferguson, Bloomberg
Let’s hope it doesn’t take another Cuban Missile Crisis to bring the U.S. and China to detente.
J. Šćepanović, Diplomat
Another diplomatic win for Russian bilateralism or a missed opportunity for one of Moscow’s regional multilateral institutions — the Collective Security Treaty Organization?
Joshua Yaffa, New Yorker
Four years ago, dozens of deputies in Russia’s parliament greeted the news of Donald Trump’s surprise victory over Hillary Clinton with a round of applause. A few popped a bottle of champagne together. The head of RT, the state-funded television network, said she was so happy that she felt like driving around Moscow with an American flag in the window of her car. Russia’s political class felt pleased with the...
Douglas Murray, Spectator
A few years ago, in a Lords debate on the treatment of Christians in the Middle East, the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks reminded his peers of some famous words of Martin Luther King: 'In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.'
That reflection may now be goi...
Anne-Marie Brady, Sydney Morning Herald
Last Friday, China’s foreign ministry threatened counter-measures against Australia for speaking up on its crackdown against democracy in Hong Kong. On the same day, China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism launched a pro-Australia tourism campaign aimed at bringing the two countries closer together. Over the past two weeks, China has gaslighted the Australian government with a series of contradictory statements on trade, as well as the overall relationship. Читать дальше...
Daniel DePetris, RealClearWorld
Joe Biden will enter the White House with a lengthy agenda. While much of it will be domestic in focus, the incoming administration cannot afford to ignore foreign policy. There is plenty of work to do, and no area needs reform more than U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia.
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Marie-Danielle Smith, Maclean's
With an economic and health crisis raging and a progressive movement growing, NDP support should be on the rise, but it's not. It's time for Jagmeet Singh to draw his battle lines.
Graeme Wood, The Atlantic
eter turchin, one of the world’s experts on pine beetles and possibly also on human beings, met me reluctantly this summer on the campus of the University of Connecticut at Storrs, where he teaches. Like many people during the pandemic, he preferred to limit his human contact. He also doubted whether human contact would have much value anyway, when his mathematical models could already tell me everything I needed to know.
Ashleigh Furlong, Politico EU
The U.S. will soon be firmly back on the global health stage, but it may not be top dog anymore.
Linda Farthing, World Politics Review
Luis Arce Catacora was sworn in as Bolivia’s new president last weekend, two weeks after he and his vice president, David Choquehanca Cespedes, won decisively in long-delayed general elections. Their victory marked a return to power for the Movement for Socialism—the political party of former President Evo Morales, known as the MAS—and an end to a year of unrest and political turmoil that followed Morales’ ouster in the wake of disputed elections.
Peter Huessy, National Interest
The enemies of the United States are not dealing with continuing resolutions, split legislatures or budget shortfalls. They are proceeding rapidly toward the future as made clear by the new North Korean ICBM threat.
Steven Cook, Foreign Policy
Once a country loses its sense of national identity, a national unraveling is often not far behind.
Bronwyn Bruton, Atlantic Council
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who won the Nobel Prize for his peacemaking with Eritrea, has confounded allies by resisting all attempts to dampen the ongoing military confrontation with a powerful northern insurgent group, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). The TPLF effectively controlled the Ethiopian government from 1991 until February 2018, when it was driven from power by a surge of popular revolt. Global officials fear that the fighting... Читать дальше...
Cheng Li, Foreign Affairs
Resetting U.S.-Chinese Relations Won’t Be Easy
