The death of Mahsa Amini after being arrested by the Iranian police’s “guidance patrol”—tasked with enforcing the mandatory hijab law—may not seem like the kind of event that could seriously undermine the Islamic Republic’s authority. But it has set off a wave of protests that could become the largest the country has seen in years.
For anyone wondering how Russian President Vladimir Putin would respond to the Ukrainian military’s recent gains, this week offered a clarifying and horrifying answer. In a speech Wednesday, Putin announced a partial mobilization of Russia’s military reserves in an effort to shore up the Russian army’s collapsing front lines.
In their speeches to the U.N. General Assembly this week, African leaders reflected on the common theme of the continent’s place in the world, while emphasizing a message of equity and inclusivity in global governance. This was underlined by their now-familiar demands for reform of the Security Council.
As Britain changes both head of state and government, it’s fair to ask if, moving forward, the US and UK’s “special relationship” will remain all that special. Skepticism among the British foreign policy community, imperial nostalgia and the harm a relationship of unquestioning loyalty has done in the past point toward no.
October will mark the one-year anniversary of the Sudanese military takeover from a transitional government created in 2019 after the overthrow of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir. But nearly 12 months later, the country faces a stalemated transition, economic malaise and political paralysis that could cause state failure.
British Prime Minister Liz Truss this week held her first set of bilateral meetings with world leaders since taking office earlier this month. But there are questions about whether London can forge productive partnerships in a post-Brexit world with the U.S. and EU, and Truss’ meetings did little to assuage those doubts.
Uruguay, a small Southern Cone country tucked away on the Atlantic coast and wedged between neighboring giants Brazil and Argentina, remains a remarkable success story in areas that go way beyond its economy. We don’t hear much about Uruguay. It stays out of the headlines precisely because just about everything is going so well.
The number of people displaced as a result of climate disasters and the slower-onset impacts of climate change is likely to grow, but legally speaking, there’s no such thing as a “climate refugee.” This begs the question: Are our current legal frameworks adequate to deal with climate-related displacement?
At the early onset of the pandemic, the robot Baymax became an unlikely pandemic folk hero, on account of his strong resemblance to the protective gear worn by Chinese health care volunteers. But the suits have now become symbolic of Beijing’s top-down pandemic control measures—and the public’s frustration with them.
Earlier this month, Zambia agreed to a $1.3 billion loan with the IMF that comes with stringent conditions. That development has sparked conversations elsewhere in Africa about a return to the kinds of IMF-imposed austerity programs seen in the 1980s and 1990s, and what the ramifications of those policies could be for Africans today.
Of the many recurring tropes in debates about European politics, perhaps the most persistently misleading is the lament over Italy’s supposed decline. This simplistic narrative draws attention away from how Italian society is at the forefront of political and economic trends that may eventually reshape the EU as a whole.
Once again, the fate of the Iran nuclear agreement is in limbo. While in theory a deal is still possible, in practice, the longer the negotiations to revive it drag out, the more difficult it will be for both sides to compromise. With that in mind, it’s worth revisiting the question of what a no-deal future might look like.
It is tempting to think that the liberal international order might have stood a better chance absent Russian revanchism and Chinese ambition. But to do so ignores the degree to which the globalization narrative disregarded globalization’s real impact on local communities. If the war in Ukraine represents a meaningful change, it is about reasserting the centrality of the state in globalization’s violent practices.
Egypt took another major step toward rapprochement with Qatar last week, as Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi made a two-day visit to Doha. The improved relations serve different purposes for each country, though, as Cairo looks to bolster its economy while Doha attempts to boost its diplomatic clout.
A renewed round of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan marks an alarming escalation of tensions between the historical enemies since the end of their war in November 2020. The attack is closely related to recent shifts in the regional balance of power, which even before 2020 had already become lopsided in Baku’s favor.
The week before last, the U.K. experienced unprecedented change, with both a new head of government and then a new head of state in just over 48 hours. King Charles III and Prime Minister Liz Truss will be left leading a United Kingdom that is profoundly divided, in large part due to still unresolved consequences of Brexit.
Brazil’s presidential election in October will determine whether the destruction of the Amazon rainforest can be slowed or reversed, with major implications for climate change globally. While getting rid of Jair Bolsonaro, who has been a disaster for the Amazon, will be a necessary first step, it will also be the easy part.