The Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s annual leaders’ summit in early July highlighted the group’s potential to be a potent force multiplier for both Russia and China, particularly in the context of great power competition. But it is still a work in progress, and many obstacles remain before it can realize its potential.
Spain’s right-wing People’s Party is poised for victory in Sunday’s elections, but to return to power, it will have to form a coalition government with the far-right Vox party. Though most associated with its anti-immigration stance, Vox is also hostile to Spain’s long-established consensus around gender equality and LGBTQ rights.
This week, the leaders of CELAC, comprising the states of the Western Hemisphere excluding the U.S. and Canada, will meet with their EU counterparts in Brussels to discuss the two regions’ relationship. Early indications suggest that differences over Ukraine could potentially hinder progress on other important topics at the summit.
Israel’s military operations in the West Bank have strengthened popular resistance and energized Palestinian armed groups, and last week’s invasion of Jenin’s refugee camp marked another dangerous escalation. With increasing numbers of Palestinians supporting armed resistance, a new uprising against Israel seems increasingly likely.
This week’s NATO summit was an opportunity for the alliance to take a clearer position on its own role in the war in Ukraine, while also setting the direction for NATO’s future evolution. But rather than paving the way forward, the summit indicated that the alliance members are only ready for more of the same.
When Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced last Friday that his government had collapsed, few people were surprised. The four-party coalition he led was an ill-fitting amalgamation of contradictory agendas. Rutte’s declaration that he would end his political career, however, sent a jolt through the country—and Europe.
In April, Indonesian security forces engaged in a shootout with Islamist militants belonging to Jemaah Islamiyah, the group that carried out the 2002 Bali bombings. Though Indonesia has had success in combating homegrown terror groups, it still faces an uphill task in keeping Jemaah Islamiyah—and the ISIS-affiliated JAD—at bay.
There is a general consensus in Washington that the Abraham Accords—the series of normalization agreements between Israel and Arab countries launched in 2020—have been an overwhelming success and that expanding them to include Saudi Arabia will only increase their benefits. That might be an overly rosy assessment.
When news of Yevgeny Prigozhin and Wagner Group’s march to Moscow broke, there was palpable shock among EU and U.S. officials. The extent to which Western governments were blindsided by a crisis that had been building for months was a reminder of how institutions in the U.K., EU and U.S. struggle to manage geopolitical risk.
The true danger for NATO is not the emergence of European defense capacity, but the lack of it. A rebalanced alliance will require a new paradigm based on closer NATO-EU cooperation with a stronger European pillar within NATO. That will only happen if Europe adopts, and the U.S. supports, a more ambitious European defense agenda.
When Mali demanded last month that the U.N. withdraw peacekeepers from its territory “without delay,” it sent a chill through diplomats in New York. Many observers have speculated over whether Mali’s move could presage the end of other U.N. missions in Africa, dealing a blow to the institution’s contribution to security there.
Last month’s Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris solidified support for providing financial incentives to low-income countries to help address climate change. The summit represented a huge win for the developing world and especially for Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who has championed the issue for years.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the question of whether women make better leaders in a crisis gained prominence. Now, the near-absence of women from the world stage has returned to being something of a “So what?” issue. But with the world continuing to face numerous crises, women’s political leadership is more, not less, important.
Lebanon’s financial crisis, worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Beirut Port explosion, has pushed the country into a slow-burning collapse. Now, given Lebanon’s sectarian political system and history of internal conflict, the state’s inability to properly fund its armed forces could result in a rapid deterioration of security.
The U.S.-China rivalry will shape the course of international politics in the 21st century. Hence, any insights that can be gleaned on the state of bilateral relations from the meeting two weeks ago between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and President Xi Jinping are worth evaluating. And the insights to be gleaned are encouraging.
The U.S. holds leverage in efforts to ensure that Venezuela’s presidential election next year free and fair enough to advance a democratic transition. But due to a trust deficit, governments that are in a better position to prod Caracas into permitting a credible election must work to complement Washington’s efforts.
When Myanmar’s junta responded to peaceful demonstrations against their 2021 coup with a bloody crackdown, the opposition turned to armed resistance. In recent months, the conflict has been escalating, and the ruthlessness of Myanmar’s military has greatly intensified. Still mostly below the world’s radar, Myanmar’s civil war is raging.