Roy C Lee, EAForum
Taiwan's remarkable economic performance in 2020 is something to celebrate given most countries globally plunged into recession because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Taiwan's GDP increased by 3.11 per cent in 2020 compared to the global average of negative 4.5 per cent. It is the first time in three decades that Taiwan has achieved a growth rate greater than China's.
Fritz Schaap, Der Spiegel
The troops of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his allies are deploying rape and famine in their war in the Tigray region. The violence is horrific, and women are bearing the brunt of it.
P. Goble, Jamestown
The climate change-induced melting of the permafrost layer in the Russian High North is now proceeding so quickly that Moscow will have to spend at least 172 billion rubles ($2.6 billion) per year for the foreseeable future to patch up the buildings, highways, rail lines, and oil and natural gas pipelines under threat there. But even if the Russian government can come up with the money, an unlikely prospect, such spending will not prevent the collapse of cities in the region caused by outmigration... Читать дальше...
Daniel Flitton, Lowy Institute
How leaders interact and are judged can shape a country's approach to the world as much as economics or military might.
Roger Boyes, Times of London
Supreme Leader is weakening as Covid denial makes his country's dire economic situation worse
Nicholas Goldberg, LA Times
The last time I was in Hong Kong, I stood high on a hill above the vertical city looking down from the German ambassador's residence on an unruly, free-spirited metropolis in the midst of a popular uprising.
Ben Caspit, Al Monitor
The family of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is suing former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for saying they are mentally ill, but Olmert is standing behind his claims.
B. Ben Taleblu, TNI
What good does it do to feign accountability over Raisi but offer impunity and financial access to a regime that has employed and promoted men like Raisi to the heights of political power.
Luis Guillermo Solís, Americas Quarterly
Growing tensions with Washington, and the post-COVID landscape, seem to provide an open door for Beijing.
Walter Pincus, The Cipher Brief
OPINION — "Right now, the offensive side has all the capability and we on the defensive side have got to run a new defense."
Global Americans
Last Friday, the helicopter of President of Colombia Iván Duque was struck by multiple bullets as it approached the airport of the city of Cúcuta,...
Josephine Wolff, FPRI
The Russian Federation's willingness to engage in offensive cyber operations has caused enormous harm, including massive financial losses, interruptions to the operation of critical infrastructure, and disruptions of crucial software supply chains. The variety and frequency of these operations, as well as the resulting attribution efforts, have offered an unusually vivid picture of Russia's cyber capabilities and tactics. While many other countries have relied heavily... Читать дальше...
V.Kobets & D. Kramer, FP
New sanctions are already affecting the regime's behavior. Let's tighten them.
Washington Examiner
On Thursday, Xi Jinping addressed his 1.4 billion citizens in celebration of the Chinese Communist Party's centenary. Xi said he would spare no effort in ensuring that Chinabecomes a "great modern socialist country" by 2049. Those who sought to restrain China's advance, Xi said, would face a bloody riposte.
Daniel Rosen, Foreign Affairs
The urgency of reform is a happy result of China's rise to middle-income status from the extreme poverty it experienced just a few decades ago. It is nothing to be ashamed of. But the applause that China has earned for its economic successes will subside if Xi fails to tolerate policy debate and accept more constrained political ambitions that admit the limits of the CCP's capabilities.
Jude Blanchette & Seth Jones, CSIS
On January 6, 2021, hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol Building in a failed attempt to halt the certification of the presidential election by Congress. The shocking footage of the violence and unrest, which dominated U.S. media for the next several months and triggered an intense Congressional debate about establishing a January 6 commission, was also heavily covered by foreign media outlets.
