Adamou & Maclean, NYT
NDJAMENA, Chad — President Idriss Déby of Chad died of wounds sustained in clashes between insurgents and government soldiers, the country's armed forces said on Tuesday, one day after he had claimed victory in his re-election campaign.
Farzin Nadimi, Washington Institute
Although both sides have sought to keep their tit-for-tat maritime attacks under control, they pose a substantial risk of miscalculation and escalation that could jeopardize international shipping.
Murat Mercan with Al Monitor
Murat Mercan, Turkey's ambassador to the United States, discusses the prospects for enhanced US-Turkish cooperation during the Biden administration; his country's purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system; Turkey's position on Syria, the Kurds, Ukraine, Greece, Libya and the Eastern Mediterranean; and more.
Joshua Kurlantzick, Council on Foreign Relations
With the situation in Myanmar disintegrating into chaos, and Myanmar possibly becoming a potential failed state, some regional powers, including the United States and Australia, have taken significant actions against the junta government. Australia has
Ted Yoho, Taipei Times
Former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo delivered a very short, succinct and accurate speech in regards to the US relationship with Taiwan in November last year. This information has again angered Beijing, which has stated that the existence of a free and independent Taiwan will not be tolerated. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) has said Pompeo's language is interfering with the sovereignty of China.
Paul Hoffman, Daily Maverick
Jacob Zuma is no prisoner of conscience. He is a thorn in the side of the rule of law and a minor threat to the constitutional democracy project on which South Africa embarked in 1994 with such high hopes and rosy expectations.
Stefanie Glinski, Foreign Policy
The United States' withdrawal may be a balm domestically. It's anything but for those that lived through the horror.
Muhammed Magdy, Al Monitor
CAIRO — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi received a phone call April 12 from Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. The call, at the start of the holy month of Ramadan, was the first contact between the two leaders since a reconciliation agreement was signed between Qatar and its Gulf neighbors as well as Egypt in the Saudi...
Peter Suciu, 1945
Russia's sole aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov, is still undergoing repairs. However, apparently part of the delay in returning the warship to duty is that the dry dock of the 35th Zvyozdochka Shipyard in Murmansk needs to be overhauled and upgraded first. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has called for the efforts to repair the dry dock to be accelerated and that could involve coming up with a clear schedule.
Carl Bildt, Project Syndicate
Regardless of whether this brinkmanship leads to open conflict in the coming weeks or months (of this even Kremlin decision-makers probably aren't sure), the situation will remain dangerous until Russia gives up its revanchist ambitions. The question ultimately is about war or peace. Until Russia can accept living alongside a sovereign, democratic Ukraine, there can be no stable middle ground.
Perry Link, National Review
n 2001 Gordon G. Chang, an American lawyer who worked many years in China, published a book called "The Coming Collapse of China." The corruption and hypocrisy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would be its undoing, Chang argued. A spirited controversy among China-watchers ensued. Nonsense — Chang is dreaming, said CCP defenders. No, it's you apologists who are dreaming, replied CCP critics. As years ticked by with the regime still in the saddle, the apologists grew smug: We told you so. Читать дальше...
James Jay Carafano, National Interest
Decades ago, the U.S. military adopted the concept of the "three levels of war" as part of their doctrine. Developed from a historical appreciation of conflict, this framework for understanding war remains relevant, a reminder that even as technology and geopolitics march on, sometimes the past marches with them.
Mehul Srivastava & Andrew England, Financial Times
About eight years ago, Prince Hamzah bin Hussein brought an idea to his half-brother, the King of Jordan. For years, the many tentacled Jordanian security and intelligence services had been at odds with each other, caught up in a decades-long battle for control of the most powerful institutions in the Arab kingdom. Two previous chiefs of the Dairat al-Mukhabarat, or General Intelligence Directorate, had been jailed for corruption.
L. Ponikelska & A. Dudik, Bloomberg
Frederick Kempe, AC
President Joe Biden faces a nightmare scenario of global consequence: increasing Sino-Russian strategic cooperation aimed at undermining US influence and at upending Biden's efforts to rally democratic allies.
Ruchir Sharma, Foreign Affairs
After the turn of the millennium, it became commonplace to hear pundits say that the future belonged to the developing world. These countries were enjoying a run of spectacular growth. Between 2000 and the early 2010s, their share of global GDP more than doubled, from 17 percent to 35 percent. Their average incomes were rapidly catching up to those of developed nations. The share of the global population living on less than $2 a day was cut nearly in half, from 28 percent to 16 percent. Читать дальше...
Dilip Hiro, TomDispatch
Like his immediate predecessor, Joe Biden is committed to a distinctly anti-China global strategy and has sworn that China will not "become the leading country in the world, the wealthiest country in the world, and the most powerful country in the world… on my watch." In the topsy-turvy universe created by the Covid-19 pandemic, it was, however, Jamie...
J. Hackenbroich & K. Liik, ECFR
For many Europeans - regardless of whether they like the pipeline - the Nord Stream 2 case shows that the US Congress and even Democrats are willing to use the threat of sanctions and the damage they can inflict on European projects. After Donald Trump left office, the US abandoned many policies that worried Europeans - but it looks as though the country will, at times, continue to use economic weapons that directly hurt Europe's interests. Even businesses... Читать дальше...
Mark Galeotti, Moscow Times
It is hard to know what is most surprising about the fatal depot story: the timing, the scale of the Czech response, or the operation itself.
