Olfa Hamdi & Anthony Kim, RCWorld
On Sunday, July 25, Tunisian President Kais Saied temporarily suspended the democratically elected Parliament and imposed a national curfew, using the military to enforce these decisions. To justify these extraordinary steps, Saied cited an article of Tunisia's constitution that allows the president to take "exceptional measures" in the event of imminent threats to national institutions, independence or the functioning of public powers.
George Pagoulatos, Ekathimerini
The new map of global threats restructures politics within states, revealing new lines of division. In the Western world it is the cross-party forces of science and rationality versus the "deniers" - deniers of science, vaccines, climate change and empirical truth itself. In the mature American republic, the latter invaded Congress. In Europe they threaten public health and fundamental democratic acquis.
Phillip Orchard, Geopolitical Futures
Senior U.S. diplomats were fanned out across the Indo-Pacific last week. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin toured Southeast Asia, outlining to circumspect U.S. partners a vision for "integrated deterrence" and, in Manila, tending to a festering wound at the heart of U.S. regional strategy. This followed Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman's visits to Seoul and Tokyo, indispensable U.S. allies whose
Rachel Esplin Odell et al, Foreign Affairs
Oriana Skylar Mastro's article "The Taiwan Temptation" (July/August 2021) is one of many recent articles that warns of the growing risk of Chinese aggression in the Taiwan Strait. Such articles have become so common that they have created something of an invasion panic in Washington—one that is damaging to both the United States' and Taiwan's interests. Anxiety about impending Chinese aggression was part of what drove Washington in recent...
Nathan Levine, Foreign Policy
Beijing recognizes promoting human rights and democracy is an ideological challenge. So should Washington.
Annalena Baerbock, Financial Times
Co-leader of Green party says climate neutrality should be made the new engine of prosperity
Stefan Vladisavljev, WOTR
If you walk down the streets of Serbia's capital, Belgrade, your face will almost certainly be recorded by one of the city's 1,000 Huawei security surveillance cameras. Your Instagram post, tweet, phone conversation, or video call will be enabled by Huawei's equipment in the country's landline and
Sumantra Maitra, National Interest
Ideas won't matter if there is no America to preserve anyway.
Anthony Cordesman, CSIS
The U.S. "long war" in Afghanistan may be ending, although it is far from clear what will happen when U.S. forces fully withdraw, and there is no way to predict what kind of new government will emerge and what level of U.S. aid and assistance - if any - will continue. The story in Iraq, however, is very different. The "long war" in Iraq against ISIS and extremist movements has broken up the ISIS "caliphate" - although elements of ISIS remain all too active - but Iraq remains a major strategic interest... Читать дальше...
Martin Arnold, FT
Dutch call centre worker Joan Kelderman knows from personal experience the downside of Europe's booming house prices: her landlord is trying to demolish her cheaply-rented home in order to build a new housing and retail complex.
James Cunningham et al, Atlantic Council
That's why we recommend a course correction involving redoubled efforts to support the Afghan security forces—particularly through airpower, which is immediately critical—as well as the vigorous implementation of US promises of continued security, economic, humanitarian, and diplomatic support.
Shohret Hoshur, Taipei Times
At the 47th session of the UN Human Rights Council on June 22, 44 Western countries criticized China for human rights violations in the Xinjiang region, with some accusing Beijing of genocide, while 65 countries supported China.
Robert Wilkie, 1945
There is an old Soviet tale about Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko. At lunchtime, he would retreat into his office and stare at the map of the world. The map was centered on the Soviet Union. The old Bolshevik would just glare at it as if it were a giant chessboard awaiting Moscow's next move.
Sarah Topol, New York Times
Nancy was at her office when she received the message. It was a hot and humid Friday afternoon in July 2019, and a friend in Hong Kong asked if she could get to the airport: A young anti-government protester was fleeing the semiautonomous Chinese territory; could she pick him up once he landed? Nancy had never done this before, but when she agreed, the protester sent her an encrypted message with his flight details, and she left work to meet him.
A. Abu Much, Al Monitor
"I may not have slept for 36 hours, but in these 36 hours we did what you didn't accomplish in 36 months." Prime Minister Naftali Bennett made that offhand remark Aug. 2, when his Cabinet approved the proposed budget. He was in the Knesset plenum, because the Likud managed to wrangle the 40...
Adam Nossiter & Fahim Abed, NYT
KABUL, Afghanistan — First, a remote provincial capital in Afghanistan's southwest fell. The next day, it was a city in Afghanistan's north. By Sunday, Taliban fighters had taken captured three more cities, including their biggest prize yet, the major provincial capital of Kunduz.
Hannah Roberts, Politico EU
ROME — Once proudly anti-establishment, Italy's 5Star Movement completed its transformation into a conventional political party after members approved a revamp pushed by former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.
William Nattrass, Spectator
Catherine Wilson, World Politics Review
After an unprecedented political crisis, Samoa finally has a functioning government, headed by the first female leader in the small Polynesian island nation's history. Fiame Naomi Mata'afa had been scheduled to take office as prime minister months ago, but her predecessor, Tuila'epa Malielegaoi, tried desperately to cling to power. In the end, Samoa's institutions held fast, making it a notable bright spot in a global landscape of democratic decline.
