Bret Stephens, New York Times
I once boarded a flight from Dubai to Kabul alongside a team of Afghan soccer players — teenage girls in red uniforms, chatting and laughing much as they might have anywhere else in the world. I thought of those players again after President Biden announced plans for America's complete military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Tobias Harris, Japan Times
Amberin Zaman, Al Monitor
Turkish authorities announced Monday they are expanding an ongoing investigation into allegations of human trafficking leveled against a local municipality run by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), adding to mounting public anger over endemic corruption and a weakening economy.
Constanze Stelzenmüller, Foreign Affairs
Years ago, at the Munich Security Conference, I found myself squeezed in on the steps of the grand staircase of a hotel ballroom, trying, dutifully but vainly, to follow a more than usually humdrum speech by Germany's first female chancellor. Tuning out, I recognized the one-star general hunkered down beside me, a senior staffer in the chancellery. I tapped his sleeve and said, "So what's it like to work for her?" He turned to me and grinned appreciatively. Читать дальше...
June Teufel Dreyer, FPRI
Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide's summit with U.S. President Joseph Biden was awaited with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety in at least four capitals: Washington, Tokyo, Beijing, and Taipei. Both the United States and Japan have concerns about increasingly assertive Chinese behavior in the East China and South China Seas and escalating pressure by China to annex Taiwan despite the often expressed wishes of Taiwan's electorate to remain separate. In the weeks before the summit... Читать дальше...
Frank Hoffman, War on the Rocks
After a year of loss and lockdowns, America's vaccination efforts are slowly allowing the country to reopen. At long last, things are very slowly starting to feel normal. Among other things, this moment provides analysts the opportunity to consider how the pandemic has affected domestic support for America's defense strategy, and whether the country will be able to afford it over the long term. This will be a difficult conversation, as it will necessarily require... Читать дальше...
Raj Persaud & Adrian Furnham, Project Syndicate
With the passing of Prince Philip on April 9, the United Kingdom may have lost its last exponent of the stoic attitude that has defined so much of its modern history. Nonetheless, other cultures have picked up the baton, and modern society will always have a need for those who excel at keeping calm and carrying on.
Jonathan Wilson, Sports Illustrated
It didn't take long for the backlash to the proposed European Super League to result in action.
Sholto Byrnes, The National
In the days of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, even of David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy, the call might have gone out for the West to act - to send in external armed forces to rescue the country from dictatorship and build a new liberal democracy.
Stewart Patrick, WPR
Every few years, the U.S. National Intelligence Council, or NIC, gazes into its crystal ball and imagines the world 20 years hence. The latest installment, released on April 8, is a harrowing read. "Global Trends 2040: A More Contested World" anticipates an era even more chaotic and divided than our own, in which institutions at all levels struggle to adapt to abrupt demographic shifts, economic turbulence, runaway climate change and...
Matthew Kupfer, Kyiv Post
With the latest developments in Russia, I want to reiterate: the Kremlin isn't playing chess, while the U.S. and West play checkers. I despise that metaphor because it encourages people to misunderstand what's actually going on. In reality, everyone is playing chess, but Russia is making up its own rules.
Tom McTague, The Atlantic
When I was a teenager, my hometown football—soccer—team was bought by a local businessman who began his career as a safecracker, became friends with Donald Trump, and ended his days broke and in jail. George Reynolds, who died last week, lived an Englishman's version of the American dream: He got rich, bought a local institution, then went bankrupt.
Andreas Umland, National Interest
Even if the Kremlin ultimately decides against a major war in Ukraine, the next few months are likely to remain tense.
