Earlier this month, the U.S. State Department unveiled a new initiative that promises to “empower” U.S. citizens to play a personal role in refugee resettlement. At first glance, there are some reasons to be skeptical. But the new program could be a good thing overall for refugees, and one that Americans can get behind.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, some analysts have warned that supporting Kyiv militarily would undermine Washington’s ability to counter China. In fact, the reverse is true. The increasingly hawkish U.S. posture toward China is more likely to undermine assistance to Ukraine as well as U.S. alliances in Europe and Asia.
The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, or CELAC, met in Buenos Aires, Argentina, last week and accomplished little. While the organization is not meaningfully addressing the hemisphere’s problems, let alone solving them, small improvements could lead it to a place where it might be able to in the future.
After weeks of mounting pressure for the West to deliver heavy tanks to support Kyiv’s war effort, German Leopards, U.S. Abrams, British Challengers and more are now heading to Ukraine. While all of them will be helpful to a degree, the Leopards will be particularly vital and should be the focus of Western efforts.
Brazil and Argentina recently announced their plan to create a common currency, starting with their two countries and inviting other South American countries to join. The idea is that it would help the region ease its trade relations, making it better able to control inflation. It’s a heady notion whose time has not come.
Over the past decade, the use of smartphones to check the latest news updates has become the first reaction of many people to crisis. But as debates over the lessons that militaries can learn from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have shown, the fragmented nature of digital information flows can distort perceptions of events.
Last year was a strange mix of chaos and continuity for the United Nations. Yet, despite the general rancor between the West and Russia, a lot of U.N. business ground on much as before. Now, U.N. officials and diplomats remain uncertain if the months ahead will involve more chaos or more business-as-usual. Three questions stand out.
Latin America should be watching the current protests in Peru and Venezuela nervously. The two crises have long and deep roots in local dynamics, but the anger seen in both countries over the past month is a reaction to causal factors that aren’t exclusive to them. Protesters are angry at political systems that are failing them.
The Russia-Ukraine war will drag on for some time more, but it will end someday. So, what will that ending look like? It’s appalling to think that Ukraine should ever grant anything to Russia in order to end the war. But in all likelihood a deal ending the war will be brokered, with both sides making concessions.
Vladimir Putin has worked diligently to thwart any threat to his rule from liberal critics, using intimidation and exile to clear his left flank. The real threat to his hold on power, and to the cohesion of the Russian state, now comes from active and outspoken players on the far right with their own battle-hardened militias.
Throughout the EU’s history, the “Franco-German engine” has been viewed as central to European integration. But Germany’s weakness on defense means that European strategic autonomy hinges on France’s ability to develop close partnerships with other member states, similar to the Franco-German engine, but in the realm of security.
What drives the disproportionate amount of aid going to Ukraine compared to crises outside Europe? One answer often given is racial bias, because many Ukrainians are white Europeans. But geographical proximity and Western publics’ perception of the nature of this particular crisis could also be playing a role.
After just under four years in office, Juan Guaido is no longer the de jure president of Venezuela. Once recognized by almost 60 countries around the world—including the United States, Canada and most of Europe and South America—he saw that number dwindle to fewer than a dozen countries by late 2022.
The process leading to Kevin McCarthy’s election as speaker of the House lent itself to jokes, but it could have serious negative consequences. The debacle placed U.S. national security in jeopardy in the short term. It is also a bad omen for the functioning of the U.S. government, and for the world, over the next two years.
When supporters of Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the capital’s seat of government on Sunday, everyone’s mind flashed back to the events of Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. The two assaults on democracy were driven by many of the same forces, with similar ideologies, similar playbooks—and some of the same players.
As the West ramps up its efforts to help Ukraine survive Russia’s ongoing invasion, European and U.S. policymakers are already examining their failure to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin for lessons that might help develop a more effective strategy to respond to Beijing’s increasingly assertive foreign policy posture.
A landmark framework agreed to at the Convention on Biological Diversity’s COP15 summit in December includes the “30X30” commitment to conserve at least 30 percent of the world’s land and oceans by 2030. The target was welcomed by most environmental groups, but some observers question whether the “protected area” approach is enough.