These gathering clouds over Afghanistan mean that traditional partners such as India must get involved in ways that they chose not to earlier. The danger of a re-emergence of warlordism is now a very likely possibility if the Afghan security forces are not helped in their task of taking on the Taliban. Read Here – The Wire
While the crisis in Ukraine is stuck, recent Russian outreach elsewhere in Europe, including Putin’s Greece trip, has been successful at starting a debate over the utility of sanctions. The public in many European countries remains critical of Moscow, but “business and political elites have increased their interest in cooperating with Russia.” Read Here – […]
Though Xi continues to focus on domestic issues, including a weakening economy, and cracks down on foreign non-governmental organizations with a new repressive law, he is also making clear that China intends to shape East Asia’s security environment. Read Here – War on the Rocks
Trump’s persistent promises to “bring back” an earlier America seem certain to deepen a shift from class to culture as America’s central political divide. Read Here – The Atlantic
Can a perpetually combative man who—despite his career successes (or perhaps because of them)—sees life as a series of fights to be won, scores to be evened and counterpunches to be delivered, be trusted to shape the foreign policy of the world’s most consequential power? Read Here – Politico
The basic framework was strikingly simple. The U.S. would buy oil from Saudi Arabia and provide the kingdom military aid and equipment. In return, the Saudis would plow billions of their petrodollar revenue back into Treasuries and finance America’s spending. Read Here – Bloomberg
Like a typical school bully, China is big and strong, but it doesn’t have a lot of friends. Indeed, now that the country has joined with the United States to approve new international sanctions on its former vassal state North Korea, it has just one real ally left: Pakistan. Read Here – Project Syndicate
In two years, Modi has displayed an instinctive understanding of power in the conduct of world affairs, and he has also benefited from being less politically hamstrung than his predecessor Manmohan Singh, with whose worldview he in fact shares much in common. Read Here – The Wire
With less than a month until British citizens vote on whether the U.K. should stay in or leave the European Union, Americans could be forgiven for being preoccupied with their own political dramas. Still, President Obama conspicuously weighed in on the British debate in April, writing in The Daily Telegraph “with the candour of a […]
World leaders are “rattled” by Donald Trump’s rise, President Barack Obama said here at the G-7 summit, but he remains confident the Republican nominee will lose in November despite the growing turmoil in his own party. Read Here – Politico
