James Holmes, 1945
Major doings in the Black Sea and Eastern Mediterranean these past couple of weeks. At present naval forces representing thirty-two countries are carrying out Exercise Sea Breeze 2021, an annual event co-hosted by the...
Kevin Williamson, National Review
hina is in a tough neighborhood, bordering Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Vietnam. But for both historical and current reasons, one of the countries that looms largest in its political thinking is a neighbor that doesn't quite border it: Japan.
Zahid Hussain, Dawn
WITH the revival of armed regional militias to stop the Afghan Taliban offensive, Afghanistan is edging towards a new civil war. Headed by old mujahideen warlords, these armed bands are fighting along the Afghan government forces in some areas, but in many cases they are defending their own regional fiefdoms.
Rebecca Mead, New Yorker
Birds native to Australasia are being found in Renaissance paintings—and in medieval manuscripts. Their presence exposes the depth of ancient trade routes.
Ben Caspit, Al Monitor
Up until June 28, Benjamin Netanyahu's official website referred to him as prime minister of Israel. More than two weeks after being removed from office, former Prime Minister Netanyahu still finds it hard to believe he has been ousted, and adapt to a changed reality. His Likud party's lawmakers still call him "prime minister," and all parties of the Likud-led opposition have been instructed clearly to reject the legitimacy of the new government, to ignore the regime change... Читать дальше...
Mauricio Cárdenas, Project Syndicate
Colombians need political leadership that responds to the current anger in the streets with effective strategies to tackle the country's social and fiscal crises, while relying on increased vaccination to defeat the pandemic. But with the radical right and populist left on the rise, expecting this anytime soon is wishful thinking.
Antonia Colibasanu, GPF
This week, the conservative Sunday Times newspaper published the results of a poll showing that support for Scottish independence has dropped to its lowest level in two years. It's not surprising, considering that since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the issue of independence has come second to more urgent problems that need to be addressed. However, in May, when the pro-independence Scottish National Party and the Green Party won a collective majority in Scottish parliamentary elections... Читать дальше...
David Aaronovitch, Times of London
Unless we start planning a radical new constitutional settlement the United Kingdom looks certain to splinter
Michael Spence, Japan Times
Mark Katz, TNI
Judged by the foreign policy accomplishments made by the reputedly unsuccessful Brezhnev, Putin's achievements appear far more modest.
Susan McKay, New York Times
But Northern Ireland, created in 1921 when Britain carved six counties out of Ireland's northeast, is not enjoying its centenary. Its most ardent upholders, the unionists who believe that the place they call "our wee country" is and must forever remain an intrinsic part of the United Kingdom, are in utter disarray. Their largest party has ousted two leaders within a matter of weeks, while an
Christopher Dougherty, WOTR
The U.S. Navy is on the verge of strategic bankruptcy. Its fleet isn't large enough to meet global day-to-day demands for naval forces. Due to repeated deployments and
N. Trickett, Diplomat
The recent bilateral summit between presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin has launched a geopolitical summit craze. On June 24, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron launched a spectacularly ill-conceived effort to secure an EU-Russia summit that immediately fell apart. The next day, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced a video conference between Putin and...
Mieczysław Boduszyński, Newlines
Former agents of Moammar Gadhafi have found a second life in a post-Gadhafi country ravaged by civil war. That is not always a bad thing
Arzan Tarapore, ASPI Strategist
The Quad is stronger than ever. The informal ‘minilateral' grouping of Australia, India, Japan and the United States has in the past year held its first stand-alone ministerial meeting and its first leaders' summit, and launched an ambitious project to deliver Covid-19 vaccines. This ‘golden age' of the Quad is a product of newfound Indian enthusiasm for the grouping, in turn spurred by the...
Daniel Finkelstein, Times of London
Keir Starmer must confront George Galloway's anti-Israel stance or risk a bigger disaster than losing a by-election
George Friedman, Geo. Futures
Europe was the primary battleground of the Cold War. NATO adopted a defensive strategy because it saw no value in conquering Eastern Europe and Western Russia. The Soviets, however, had an interest in securing the European peninsula to secure its western frontier and to take advantage of Western European technology and naval capabilities. Moscow could never launch an attack though. Its western satellites were unpredictable. The long logistical line needed to... Читать дальше...
Rashid Khalidi, Foreign Affairs
A Revived Palestinian National Movement Could Upend the Status Quo
FM Sergei Lavrov, Worldcrunch
MOSCOW — The frank and generally constructive conversation at the June 16 summit between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Joseph Biden in Geneva resulted in an agreement to begin a substantive dialogue on strategic stability [...] But almost immediately after the end of the summit, U.S. officials — including participants of the Geneva meeting — began to assertively return to their former attitude: "pointing out," "clearly warning" and making myriad demands on
Harold James, Project Syndicate
The term geopolitics first came into vogue after Germany's defeat in World War I and has since come to be used as a rationalization for zero-sum conflicts. But insofar as it represents a false notion of geographical determinism, it is utterly inappropriate for a globalized world.
