Michael Rubin, TNI
Until the Biden administration or its successors realize that they cannot rely on the Taliban to stamp out terror, terrorist groups in Afghanistan will only metathesize.
Andrew Michta, Wall Street Journal
The risk of war arises not because they're strong but because they foresee their advantages slipping away.
Katharine Quinn-Judge, Foreign Affairs
Despite the Russian Buildup, the Status Quo Still Serves Both Sides
Leonor Tomero, Russia Matters
As the two countries that possess 90% of nuclear weapons worldwide and have come perilously close to nuclear war several times over the last six decades, the United States and Russia bear a particular responsibility to maintain and enhance strategic stability. Strategic stability means arms race stability—whereby neither side has an incentive to seek or establish primacy (or break-out capability) regardless of technological advances. It also consists of crisis stability... Читать дальше...
Danny Citrinowitcz & Jason Brodsky, J-Post
In the October statement from the E3 (France, Germany and the United Kingdom) and the United States, they pledged their "shared determination to address broader security concerns raised by Iran's actions in the region."
Trita Parsi, American Prospect
For America, the Baghdad dialogue makes far more strategic sense than the Abraham Accords.
Christopher Roach, American Greatness
The Cuban Missile Crisis has gone down in history as an episode of brinksmanship that nearly resulted in nuclear war. One of the details little discussed, however, is that the crisis did not end on account of some brilliant military move by John F. Kennedy, nor did he follow the counsel of generals whowanted to use nuclear weapons.
Richard Haass, Project Syndicate
The US and its allies are more than justified providing Ukraine with arms to defend itself, as well as threatening to impose severe economic sanctions should Russian President Vladimir Putin decide to launch an invasion. But the US is also right to offer a diplomatic path for Putin if he decides to walk back from the brink.
Arif Rafiq, Foreign Policy
Protests at the port city should be a wakeup call for Islamabad.
Shelly Kittleson, Al Monitor
BAGHDAD — Turkey has targeted members of a local Yazidi armed group linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq and taken losses among its own forces stationed in the region.
Ted Galen Carpenter, Cato
If US policymakers don't adopt a more restrained approach, the outcome could well be armed conflicts with nuclear implications.
Nurettin Akcay, The Diplomat
China-Turkey relations came to a halt between 1990 and 2000 following the anti-Chinese activities of the Uyghurs in the 1980s. Bilateral relations gained momentum when the AK Party came to power, but ties were seriously weakened again with the Urumqi riots that broke out in 2009. Turkey reacted very harshly to the ensuing crackdown, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan describing the events as genocide. As Chinese authorities were displeased with Erdogan's rhetoric, they cut off relations with Turkey. Читать дальше...
Fin Depancier, Palladium
The fireball that engulfed the Port of Beirut on August 4th, 2020, was perhaps the most spectacular event ever caught on camera. It was the horrifyingly literal bursting of a bubble that had been accumulating in size and sludge for the last 30 years. As we walked through Beirut's deserted streets one year later, my friend Ghazar Keoshgerian recalled his first moments after the blast to me: lying in the rubble, he thought the city had been hit by a nuclear weapon.... Читать дальше...
American Enterprise Institute
Russian President Vladimir Putin is amassing a large force near the Ukrainian border and reportedly has a military plan to invade and conquer most of unoccupied Ukraine. Western leaders are rightly taking the threat of such an invasion very seriously, and we cannot dismiss the possibility that Putin will order his military to execute it. However, the close look at what such an invasion would entail presented in this report and the risks and costs Putin would... Читать дальше...
Tom Westland, East Asia Forum
It's twenty years this week since China was admitted to membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO). That presaged a remarkable surge in Chinese trade, an industrial transformation on a scale not seen before in human history, China's emergence as the world's largest trading nation and its integration into the global economy in a way that was hardly possible to imagine just two decades earlier. It's little wonder that the WTO is among the most widely respected international institutions in China today. Читать дальше...
D. Minzarari, J-town
The December 7 video-conference between Presidents Joseph Biden of the United States and Vladimir Putin of Russia raised many questions, as both sides were scarce with details. The official read-outs of the meeting confirmed the previously voiced positions, leading many observers to conclude that the talks broke little new ground. Nevertheless, the separate statements by US and Russian officials, combined with extensive media coverage, have provided some helpful insights... Читать дальше...
Doug Bandow, 1945
South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced that the North has agreed "in principle" to a peace declaration. The US and Republic of Korea reportedly have been working on a draft agreement. China apparently indicated its support. What could possibly go wrong?
Michael Tanchum, ECFR
A permanent Chinese military installation in Equatorial Guinea is the culmination of nearly a decade's investment in Africa - and will not be the last of such bases on the continent's Atlantic coast
Richard Arnold, PONARS Eurasia
(PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo) Cossacks have become a highly recognizable feature of modern Russia, playing a central role in the annexation of Crimea and promotion of secessionism in Donbas. Beyond their role as enforcers and combat irregulars, however, their movement makes few headlines, even while, as argued here, Russian Cossack organizations have become a means of promoting the regime both at home and abroad. As the movement has developed, so has it been commandeered by the Kremlin. Читать дальше...
Michael Warren Davis, American Conservative
The Republican Party is haunted by the specter of communism. Even now that "wars of democracy" are out of vogue, the myth of our Shining City vanquishing the Evil Empire remains central to conservatives' self-identity. Reagan told Mr. Gorbachev to tear down that wall, and down it came.
Sue Gordon & Eric Rosenbach, Foreign Affairs
decade ago, the conventional wisdom held that the world was on the cusp of a new era of cyberconflict in which catastrophic computer-based attacks would wreak havoc on the physical world. News media warned of doomsday scenarios; officials in Washington publicly fretted about a "cyber-Pearl Harbor" that would take lives and destroy critical infrastructure. The most dire predictions, however, did not come to pass. The United States has not been... Читать дальше...
Stephen Blank, RealClearDefense
The December 7th Putin-Biden summit appears to be leading to the convocation of an international conference on European security to address Russia's complaints. Thus this "summit" has evidently bought time for a diplomatic approach to the issues of Ukraine and European security more generally. Ukraine must utilize this interval or respite to strengthen itself not only militarily and diplomatically but also internally. Internal strengthening, the enhancement... Читать дальше...
M. Van Renterghem, NS
The Prime Minister and French President Emmanuel Macron can't stand each other, but the real damage is from Brexit.
Jonathan Miller, Spectator
It seems like just minutes ago that Michel Barnier, former Brexit negotiator, centre-right Républicain exiled to Brussels two decades ago, was being widely touted (not least by British correspondents in Paris) as the respectable opposition to President Emmanuel Macron in the 2022 presidential election campaign. As I predicted here and
Andrew Gimson, Cons. Home
It would be mad of the Conservative Party to choose this moment to pole-axe the Prime Minister. Every Tory leader can expect to be pole-axed in the end, but to be bounced by an alliance of brutes, scandal-mongers and prigs into dropping him now would be an act of insanity.
