Daniel Shapiro, Russia Matters
This compilation of observations and policy ideas related to Russia by William Burns is part of Russia Matters' "Competing Views" rubric, where we share prominent American thinkers' takes on issues pertaining to Russia, U.S.-Russian relations and broader U.S. policies affecting Russia.
Paola Subacchi, Project Syndicate
Since the 2008 global financial crisis, China has steadily increased its direct lending to developing countries - often with draconian conditions attached. Debt moratoria during the pandemic, while important, will not solve this problem.
Jacob Nagel, RealClearWorld
Israel and its new Gulf allies are growing increasingly concerned that the incoming Biden administration intends to re-enter negotiations with Iran with the aim of returning to the deeply flawed 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The deal yielded wide sanctions relief and other concessions to Iran but never blocked the world's most prolific state sponsor of terrorism from a direct path to a nuclear arsenal in short time.
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Derek Scissors, American Enterprise Institute
Earlier this week, India's Supreme Court indefinitely stayed new, important farm laws, creating a court-appointed committee to . . . do something, maybe. This has been hailed as prudent and needed to protect farmers and attacked as a dishonest, tactical move to pacify them, with the laws implemented as is on only a few...
James Forsyth, Spectator
What will Brexit Britain do differently? This is going to be the most important question in our politics for the next decade. If the answer is that nothing much will change, it would be hard to argue that the disruption of the past four and a half years has been worth it. But if Brexit means the country becomes quicker at adapting to changing circumstances, then the electorate's decision in 2016 will have been vindicated.
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Ben Judah, Atlantic Council
Though the world, cut off behind travel bans, has perhaps never felt further away for millions of Britons, one thing has changed in Whitehall over the course of this COVID-blighted winter: It can no longer be said that the only foreign-policy debate in the United Kingdom is about Brexit. With the launch this week of a major new report by the British think tank Chatham House, titled "Global Britain, Global Broker," there...
Robin Niblett, Chatham House
In this paper, Chatham House Director Robin Niblett sets out a proposed blueprint for Britain's future foreign policy. Rather than reincarnate itself as a miniature great power, he argues that the country has the chance to remain internationally influential if it serves as the broker of solutions to global challenges.
Daniel Larison, The American Conservative
Pompeo went so far as to declare that Iran is the "new Afghanistan" for the terrorist group, which is also nonsense. He is telling these lies in the hopes of throwing up more roadblocks to U.S. reentry into the JCPOA, but it isn't going to work because his claims are false. Iran holds some members of Al Qaeda as hostages and bargaining chips in order to protect themselves against attack, but they do not work with them or sponsor them. They hold these... Читать дальше...
Jasmine Aguilera, Time
fter an unprecedented year of global pain, loss and uncertainty, a new report finds that 2020 marked "an epidemic of misinformation and widespread mistrust of societal institutions and leaders around the world."
Rex Tillerson with Kelly Bjorklund, Foreign Policy
Former U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on the mess Donald Trump is leaving behind.
James Winnefeld, Proceedings
It was 1 August 1990. Saddam Hussein had been rattling his sword for six months, threatening to burn Israel and take over Kuwait. But the Soviet Union was falling, consuming the attention of Washington, a town that is really only able to focus on one crisis at a time. The intelligence community was particularly focused on the failing communist empire due to opacity of the Soviet system and the enormous potential consequences of a miscalculation during the transition. Читать дальше...
Tony Barber, Financial Times
Leaders should focus on making the best use of the EU recovery fund.