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A recent spate of commentary has drawn the analogy between today’s regional conflicts and those of the 1930s that led to World War II, often as a cautionary tale for how to deal with contemporary international security dynamics. These analogies, however, misread the past, with potentially dangerous implications for the present.

A container ship participating in globalized trade is unloaded in California.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump upended what was once a relatively staid global economic and trade system. For all of the upheaval he created, though, Trump left office with only one clear-cut accomplishment: an updated NAFTA deal. And even as Trump sowed chaos in America’s trade relationships, most of the world reinforced its commitment to trade liberalization.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a U.N. Security Council meeting.

When the U.N. convenes Friday to mark the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the events may feel a little low-key. One reason is that many U.N. members want to focus on other issues. The second is that the West’s failure to support a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war has alienated a lot of non-Western representatives.

The US vs China rivaly has many paths forward, and Biden and Xi will need to find a way to navigate a new cold war.

President Joe Biden took office with an ambitious U.S. foreign policy agenda summed up by his favorite campaign tagline: “America is back.” Above all, that meant repairing the damage done to America’s global standing by his predecessor, former President Donald Trump.

Jack Quaid and Zazie Beetz announce this year’s nominees for the Best International Feature Film category of the 96th Oscars.

The Best International Feature Film category at the Academy Awards is supposed to help Hollywood forge closer ties with foreign film industries. But flaws in the category’s rules and process have not only have made it highly politicized and often unfair, but have also prevented it from fulfilling its purpose.

A Filipino worker tears down a wall showing a mural painting of Bob Marley.

The release of the Bob Marley biopic, “One Love,” presents an opportunity to reexamine Marley’s broader intellectual legacy, which has important lessons for anyone interested in the politics of freedom movements and is of particular significance for observers and practitioners of international development.

A traditional mass wedding held by the Houthis in Yemen.

Given that so many rebel groups seek to radically restructure society, it comes as no surprise that they would also concern themselves with regulating marriage. So while much of the coverage of rebel marriages is sensationalistic and shallow, marriage is a critical but underappreciated aspect of rebels’ wartime activities.

Mining in Bolivia

Resource extraction continues to be a major source of revenue for both developing countries and wealthier nations alike. But the windfalls don’t come without risks. Meanwhile, the environmental impact of fossil fuels is driving the development of renewable energy sources. But the transition is slow to develop.