International Crisis Group
President-elect Joe Biden says the U.S. will rejoin the Iran nuclear deal if Tehran resumes full compliance. Iran says it will do so if Washington relaxes sanctions. Each side should use the framework that already exists rather than try to squeeze the other for concessions.
Elliott Abrams with Jewish News Syndicate
"My advice on negotiating with Iran is to recognize that the United States has the upper hand. Recognize that the regime in Tehran is facing many serious pressures," the U.S. Special Representative for Iran tells JNS, in large part due to the "maximum pressure" campaign the Trump administration has applied for the last few years.
Al Jazeera
Under the agreement, Morocco will establish full diplomatic relations and resume official contacts with Israel.
Michael Doran, Hoover
In America today, populists on both sides of the political aisle demand that allies should carry more of the burden, especially the military burden, of upholding the international order. Meanwhile, the fear of a rising China cuts against the grain of this thinking. Chinese leader Xi Jin Ping's more aggressive foreign policy has generated an equally strong impulse to marshal resources and organize allies to contain China. In an effort to reconcile the contradictory impulses... Читать дальше...
Victor Davis Hanson, National Review
Judy Dempsey, Carnegie Europe
Incoming U.S. president Joe Biden offers a chance to renew transatlantic ties and forge a common EU-U.S. policy toward China. But for that to happen, the Europeans must agree on how to deal with Beijing.
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Max Hastings, Times of London
While they cherish our prominent role in Nato, there is a long march to sustain it as a meaningful military alliance, rather than a parade of brave words unsupported by hardware or real will. Even now the Treasury axe has been lifted, the architects of Britain's foreign and security policy review face a daunting challenge.
Ramesh Thakur, Japan Times
Australia and Japan's close relationship is based on common political values, market economies, open trade policies and overlapping security interests. The deepening bilateral security relationship includes taking part in joint humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, anti-piracy operations, as well as naval and coast guard exercises.
Ruchir Sharma, Financial Times
Digital currency poses a significant threat to greenback's supremacy
Daniel Larison, The American Conservative
Coup 53 is a timely reminder that regime change is wrong and destructive even when it "works."
Colin Dueck, National Review
Conservatives are divided into three camps: A guide to how the post-Trump party order could resolve.
Reuters
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A Swedish parliamentary majority in favour of readiness to join NATO as a possible security policy option has emerged for the first time after the far-right Sweden Democrats party shifted position on the military alliance.
Tony Badran, FDD
The season of offering advice to the next administration is upon us once more. When it comes to American policy toward Lebanon, the purveyors of advice are faced with two key questions.
Howard French, WPR
With its immense population growth, ballooning cities, fast-growing middle classes, widening zones of poverty, environmental devastation, soaring refugee populations, and civil and sectarian violence, the evolution of Africa over the next two decades is the sleeper issue of humankind. Will anyone break the stale molds of American engagement in the past and approach the continent with the imagination and...
Adel Hamaizia, Chatham House
Although China is likely to remain its preferred economic partner, strategic rebalancing would help Algeria hedge its bets and optimize relations with Beijing and beyond.
Mazal Mualem, Al Monitor
The person most courted in Israeli politics today is former Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot, and with good reason.
Aditya Chakrabortty, The Guardian
The 2016 referendum was won by rightwing millionaires using the poor and ignored as political cover, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty
Robert Zaretsky, Forward
This year marks the 125th anniversary of Alfred Dreyfus' arrival at Devil's Island. On April 14, the former captain in the French army, found guilty of treason a few months earlier by a military tribunal, began his life sentence as the sole prisoner on this malarial rock off the coast of French Guiana. As guards ushered Dreyfus into his prison cell — a stone hut thick with mosquitoes and rats — they were ordered, should the convict try to escape, to "blow his brains... Читать дальше...
Robert Tombs, Spectator
Given the seemingly highly technical nature of the current negotiations, members of the public who have normal lives to lead might be forgiven for thinking that the same issues are still being debated after more than four years. They might be forgiven for thinking this as much of the media, including the BBC, are happy simply to parrot the official line coming from Brussels: that this is just about compromise, both sides making...
Jeremy Warner, SMH
OK, so this is the prevailing assumption in financial markets, and indeed much of the commentariat - that what we are witnessing in the continued stand-off between UK and EU negotiators is no more than a political dance, or even charade, in which like some sham World Wrestling Entertainment fight, opponents are merely going through the motions, rehearsed theatrical head clench matched by rehearsed theatrical body slam, before at the very last moment, a carefully choreographed... Читать дальше...
Harry Kazianis, National Interest
How does North Korea's Kim Jong-un see the incoming Biden administration? Does Kim see a diplomatic path forward that builds on the initial, partial success with Trump? A recent panel attempted to answer these questions--and much more.
Eliot Cohen, The Atlantic
President-elect Joe Biden should choose a civilian to lead his Department of Defense.
Jan-Werner Mueller, Project Syndicate
Faced with the threat of a veto from the Polish and Hungarian governments, many in the EU are now counting on the German Chancellor to broker a deal to secure passage of the bloc's next seven-year budget and recovery fund. But given that the dispute involves fundamental European values, there should be nothing to negotiate.
Anik Joshi, FP
Once an asset, the clan has become an electoral liability.
Daniel Balazs, The Diplomat
Historical patterns in China's behavior suggest that Beijing is willing to pick fights in order to stave off external anti-China coalitions.
