Asher Orkaby, National Interest
If this past week's blockage of the Suez Canal is any indication, a major conflagration in Yemen has the capacity to threaten the freedom of navigation through the Red Sea and have serious ramifications for Suez Canal finances and global commerce in the long-term.
J. Meservey, RCW
In a tense exchange with their American counterparts during a recent meeting in Alaska, senior Chinese officials deployed a familiar argument: The United States has no right to criticize the crimes of the Chinese Communist Party-led regime because of the U.S.'s own racial and political problems.
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Kuyoun Chung, East Asia Forum
As great power competition intensifies, South Korea is coming under pressure to choose between the United States and China. At the same time, recognising its waning dominance in the region, Washington is probing the willingness of allies and partners to join a like-minded democratic coalition in confrontation with China.
Asim Ali, The Diplomat
Narendra Modi has created one of the most powerful political brands in India's history. But that centralization of power creates its own weaknesses.
The Hindu
Hong Kong, China's Special Administrative Region (SAR), has served as the mainland's most important gateway to the world for the past 24 years. Since its handover from British rule in 1997, the SAR has defied expectations that it would lose its unique identity. Unlike the mainland, the unique "one country, two systems" model guaranteed a high degree of autonomy and freedoms, including a free press, the right to protest, and a rambunctious political scene with a noisy pro-democracy opposition. Читать дальше...
The National
From Europe and the Middle East to South America and the Asian Pacific, the lives of an increasing number of migrants and asylum seekers are being put on hold. Governments in various countries are struggling to resolve the contradiction between the universal desire to travel to find prosperity and the difficulties societies encounter in welcoming newcomers.
Fred Kaplan, Slate
So far, he seems like he's the right person for the job, but it's still a really hard job.
David Gardner, Financial Times
The country hurtles towards collapse as power brokers refuse to form a government
Daniel DePetris, Wash. Examiner
According to the Ukrainian government, four of its soldiers were killed this week by fire from Russian-backed separatist units along the Donetsk front. Taken in the context of a Russian military buildup near Ukraine's eastern border, the latest deaths have led the U.S. European Command to
Lee Jong-Wha, Project Syndicate
Asia is already a major global power, and some regard the ongoing COVID-19 crisis as a tipping point that will accelerate the region's resurgence. But the twenty-first century will really belong to Asia only if it can develop unified, collective leadership.
Elliot Waldman, WPR
The top U.S. military commander for the Asia-Pacific region, Adm. Philip Davidson, raised eyebrows at a recent Senate hearing when he suggested China could invade Taiwan within the next six years. The nominee to replace Davidson at the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Adm. John Aquilino, then went a step further,
Adam Tooze, Internationale Politik Quarterly
In its dealings with Beijing, the United States has turned to classic grand strategy with the aim of safeguarding its primacy. In contrast, the EU has been pursuing a less consistent, but much more suitable multi-track approach. China's latest actions may push the Europeans to full alignments with the US—which would be both momentous and dangerous.
A. Wess Mitchell, Foreign Policy
Outcomes, not optics, should be the measure of U.S. policy in Europe.
Zachary Kallenborn, WOTR
Since the stone, bronze, and iron ages, humans have found new means to protect themselves and kill one another. Weapons like iron swords, tanks, and nuclear weapons transformed the globe, while others only merit mention on a Gizmodo listicle. At the same time, peaceful technologies like the printing press, the power loom, and computers disrupted economies, societies, and even governments. Today, a whole host of technologies from fifth-generation wireless...
Al Monitor
Erdogan's interference with the central bank is badly damaging foreign investor confidence in Turkey, threatening hard-currency crunches that could send the Turkish lira to new lows.
Sergey Sukhankin, Jamestown
On March 23, the Suez Canal, one of the world's busiest transport arteries, became blocked in both directions when the ultra-large Golden-class container ship Ever Given (operated by the firm Evergreen), en route from Malaysia to the Netherlands, ran aground cross-ways. For nearly a week, the massive vessels remained lodged along both embankments of the man-made waterway. According to various estimates, every day of blockage was costing the global economy approximately... Читать дальше...
Victoria Coates & Robert Greenway, Bloomberg
Itamar Rabinovich, Newlines
Yitzhak Rabin's former peace negotiator with Damascus discusses Israel's attempt to cut a deal with Assad, before the Syrian dictator declared war on his own country
Angelos Chryssogelos, Chatham House
In recent years, populist movements in Europe have been perceived as a threat to the liberal international order. However, a closer look at the actions of such populists when they are in government casts significant doubt over this narrative.
Barry Eichengreen, Japan Times
BERKELEY, CALIF. - The idea of a digital dollar has been in the air for some time now. Recently, it descended from the ether to the lips of U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell. At an event in February, Yellen flagged the idea as "absolutely worth looking at," adding that the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, in conjunction with academics at MIT, was already doing so. In Congressional testimony the following day, Powell called... Читать дальше...
A. Parasiliti, E. Hagedorn & J. Snell, Al Monitor
China has long had a two-track approach to the Middle East and North Africa: racking up public-relations points with "Belt and Road" business and infrastructure deals, but staying out of security and political issues.
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Gil Hoffman, Jerusalem Post
Just as the prime minister's decision to talk so much during the campaign was strategic, so too was his silence.
Howard French, WP Review
Far more than they appeared to at first glance, two news stories in recent days have framed America's position in the world at the outset of Joe Biden's presidency in unusually stark and powerful ways.
Henry Hill, Cons. Home
It's an unhappy feature of the electoral system used for the Scottish Parliament that it seems to be fiendishly complex to work out exactly what impact Alex Salmond's new party is going to have in the upcoming elections, or on the longer-term future of the SNP.
Derek Thompson, The Atlantic
In a crowded field of wrongness, one person stands out: Alex Berenson.
