Larry Diamond, East Asia Forum
Under the presidency of Donald Trump, concerns about democracy and human rights were demoted in US foreign policy. Trump's administration deserves credit for reorienting American foreign policy to confront an increasingly authoritarian China. But while some US officials did what they could to advance human rights, Trump himself had a transactional, value-neutral approach to dealing with China. President Joe Biden will be different.
Anna Zacharias, Newlines
Until well into the 20th century, their haunting melodies were sung by Gulf sailors all across the Indian Ocean
Benedict Rogers, Persuasion
With extraordinary courage, demonstrators against the military coup in Myanmar are braving daily attack from the police and military. First, they faced rubber bullets, slingshots, batons and tear gas. More recently, they have been targeted with live ammunition, including military snipers firing at crowds, even shooting indiscriminately into apartments. Scores have been killed, thousands wounded, and hundreds languish in prison.
Shim Jae-yun, Korea Times
With the smell of gunpowder in the air, the Alaska meeting between the United States and China last week was terrifying. Visibly emotional, the top officials from the two superpowers exchanged acrimonious barbs against each other on highly sensitive issues. TV footage of the meeting suggested that they were engaging in real war.
Morgan Plummer, WOTR
"It's about the people, stupid!" If James Carville were advising the Department of Defense on its approach to modernization and innovation, he might well utter these words to anyone willing to listen with the same sense of exasperation with which he uttered his original admonishment to Bill Clinton's presidential campaign.
Samuel Ramani, 38 North
As the Syrian civil war passes its tenth anniversary, President Bashar al-Assad is seeking to escape international isolation and preserve Damascus's wartime partnerships. While Syria is primarily focused on returning to the Arab League and courting reconstruction investments from China, Russia and Iran, it also wishes to preserve its historic relationship with North Korea. Under Kim Jong Un's leadership, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has consistently defended Assad from international criticism... Читать дальше...
T.J. Clark, London Review of Books
We are on our way to Paradise. Some say we are there already; and it is true that the soft green hill the angels are leading us towards, and the fountain perched on top with its retinue of birds, could well be a Garden of Eden. The angels are forbearing: they know we're likely to make a slow start. Some of us look to have registered the new light in the sky, and are caught between an eagerness to go onwards and fear or perhaps puzzlement. An angel in red stands next to me. Читать дальше...
Daniel DePetris, RCWorld
Nord Stream 2, the undersea Russian pipeline designed to transport more natural gas to Germany, is the energy project nearly everyone in Washington, D.C. loves to hate. Some lawmakers are going to great lengths to drill home their point. Sen. Ted Cruz, a co-author of mandatory sanctions legislation targeting the pipeline, blocked a vote on President Joe Biden's nominee to lead the CIA, William Burns, over the issue. That hold that
Andreas Kluth, Bloomberg
With coronavirus mutations pitted against vaccinations in a global arms race, we may never go back to normal.
Daniel Davis, 1945
Former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster wrote on Monday that President Joe Biden should not withdraw from Afghanistan by May 1, as the deal negotiated by the Trump Administration in February 2020 requires. The arguments McMaster provides to justify the continuation of the war, however, ironically do more to support a decision for withdrawal.
Hans Binnendijk & Sarah Kirchberger, AC
China presents the United States and its partners with the most serious set of challenges they have faced since the Cold War. The scope of those chal- lenges is global. Their potential impact is deep.
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J. Eisenman & H. Grizzell, FP
China's elite are nervous about the coming succession crisis around Xi Jinping.
Michael MacArthur Bosack, JT
In the "two-plus-two" meeting that took place last week, the Japanese and U.S. governments unequivocally called out China, highlighting the country's unilateral and unlawful attempts to change the status quo in the Indo-Pacific. Since then, there has been much debate on what this means for the region, especially in the context of Taiwan.
Weifeng Zhong, The Dispatch
The fact that China's strategy is working on one of America's key allies suggests that Western countries were not really paying attention when China dropped its hammer on Hong Kong. Liberal democracies did the right thing when they condemned China, sanctioned responsible individuals, and welcomed Hong Kongers with open arms. But it's a fatal mistake to not reflect on how their own liberties can be eroded by China in similar ways.
Thomas Christensen, Foreign Affairs
For the past few decades, Chinese scholars, pundits, and diplomats have often falsely accused the United States of adopting a "cold war mentality" toward China. They usually level these accusations when Washington enhances the U.S. military's position in Asia or bolsters the military capabilities of its allies and partners in East Asia.
Gordon Chang, National Interest
China this century is on track to experience history's most dramatic demographic collapse in the absence of war or disease.
S. Tazrian Ashrafi, Diplomat
In his seminal book of nonfiction, "The Blood Telegram," Gary J. Bass scathingly remarks that the United States displayed "moral blindness" in its foreign policy by "actively and knowingly" backing Islamabad's control over Bangladesh - then East Pakistan. His book is based on a series of telegrams sent by Archer K. Blood, the U.S. consul general to Dhaka at the time of the war in 1971. As seen from his memoir, "The Cruel Birth of Bangladesh," the telegrams strongly... Читать дальше...
Michael Young, The National
As Lebanon continues to disintegrate, its political system is unequivocally broken. What had been an interesting consociational model until its civil war in 1975, was replaced at the war's end in 1990 with a pluralistic system of national pie-sharing that included the wartime leaders and a new class of businessmen.
Megan Greene, Financial Times
At the turn of the year, weak growth and poor management of the Covid-19 pandemic led to a consensus that the US dollar would weaken significantly in 2021. Instead, it's been strengthening — a trend with significant implications for the US and the rest of the world.
Seifudein Adem, Foreign Policy
Abiy Ahmed must return to his concept of "medemer" and reject the notion of politics as a zero-sum game.
