Members of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force aim their rifles towards the sky during a rehearsal ahead of a memorial ceremony commemorating those who died during World War II, as they sail past the Sulu Sea, June 28, 2019 (AP photo by Emily Wang).

In the wake of World War II, the U.S. helped Japan draft a new constitution that forever renounced the use of military force as a means of settling international disputes. Japan has nonetheless maintained a well-equipped military for the purposes of self-defense, even while largely relying on the security umbrella provided by U.S. forces in the region. In a book that came out in April, Sheila Smith, the senior fellow for Japan studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, makes a compelling case that Tokyo is now reevaluating that security posture in response to a militarily ascendant China, a nuclear […]

President Donald Trump holds up a chart documenting land lost by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria as he delivers remarks in Lima, Ohio, March 20, 2019 (AP photo by Evan Vucci).

In this week’s editors’ discussion on Trend Lines, WPR’s Judah Grunstein, Frederick Deknatel and Laura Weiss talk about a recent Pentagon report documenting the Islamic State’s resurgence in Iraq and Syria. They also discuss a controversial abortion case in El Salvador, and prospects for the G-7 summit in France. If you like what you hear on Trend Lines and what you’ve read on WPR, you can sign up for our free newsletter to get our uncompromising analysis delivered straight to your inbox. The newsletter offers a free preview article every day of the week, plus three more complimentary articles in […]

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, June 5, 2019 (AP photo by Evgenia Novozhenina).

Oct. 1 will mark 70 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China. But even as they make plans to celebrate the country’s anniversary, Communist Party leaders face several big challenges: ongoing pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong, an economic slowdown that is being exacerbated by a damaging trade war with the United States, and mounting international criticism over its abhorrent human rights record. Will officials in Beijing, starting with President Xi Jinping, make any efforts to change the country’s political, economic or human rights-related trajectories? And what other domestic and external challenges will affect China’s developmental path? For […]

Chinese police officers walk by a U.S. flag on an embassy car outside a hotel in Shanghai, July 30, 2019 (AP photo by Ng Han Guan).

In this week’s editors’ discussion on Trend Lines, WPR’s Judah Grunstein, Frederick Deknatel and Laura Weiss talk about President Donald Trump’s decision to postpone a new round of tariffs on China, and what it says about his subordination of U.S. foreign policy to the needs of his reelection campaign. They also discussed the challenges facing newly elected Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei, and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini’s faltering attempt to force new elections in Italy. If you like what you hear on Trend Lines and what you’ve read on WPR, you can sign up for our free newsletter to get […]

People crowd around a makeshift memorial near the site of a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, Aug. 5, 2019 (AP photo by John Locher).

Earlier this month, a white supremacist gunman opened fire at a Walmart shopping center in El Paso, Texas, killing 22 people. According to police, the suspected shooter has admitted to targeting “Mexicans,” and he had apparently posted a manifesto online just prior to his rampage, in which he decried a “Hispanic invasion of Texas.” In the same manifesto, he praised another white supremacist gunman who killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March of this year. These are sadly just a few of the violent incidents perpetrated in recent years by right-wing extremists around the world. […]

A man watches a TV showing an image of a North Korean missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Aug. 6, 2019 (AP photo by Ahn Young-joon).

In this week’s editors’ discussion on Trend Lines, WPR’s managing editor, Frederick Deknatel, and associate editor, Elliot Waldman, talk about North Korea’s recent string of short-range ballistic missile tests, the Trump administration’s less-than-forceful response, and what that says about the broader dysfunction plaguing the U.S. intelligence and foreign policy communities. They also discuss the ongoing pro-democracy protests in Algeria, which are now in their 25th week. As Francisco Serrano notes in his in-depth report for WPR this week, the outlook for the country’s protest movement remains unclear, given the risks that Algeria’s military leaders could still revert to form and […]

Soldiers uproot coca shrubs as part of a manual eradication operation in San Jose del Guaviare, Colombia, March 22, 2019 (AP photo by Fernando Vergara).

At his inauguration ceremony a year ago, Colombian President Ivan Duque promised a forceful crackdown on drug trafficking, especially cocaine, through “the eradication and substitution of illegal crops.” Under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, he is now pushing to restart aerial spraying of coca plantations using the herbicide glyphosate, which is “probably carcinogenic to humans,” according to the World Health Organization. Meanwhile, in nearby Bolivia, President Evo Morales has taken a different route, expanding legal coca cultivation while relying only on domestic law enforcement agencies to tackle drug trafficking. This coca policy will be one of many issues on […]

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, center left, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, center right, cross their arms with the other representatives during the ASEAN Regional Forum in Bangkok, Thailand, Aug. 2, 2019 (AP photo by Gemunu Amarasinghe).

This week, diplomats from 27 countries around the Asia-Pacific gathered in Bangkok for the ASEAN Regional Forum, where they discussed the many geopolitical flashpoints in the region, from North Korea to the South China Sea. Meanwhile, Venezuela is coming under mounting criticism in the wake of a recent United Nations report on its human rights abuses, and a cease-fire agreement in Mozambique ended a return to violence 27 years after the end of that country’s devastating civil war. WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, and associate editors Elliot Waldman and Laura Weiss talk about all of this and more on the editors’ […]