Lesotho’s then-prime minister, Thomas Thabane, and his wife Maesaiah attend a court hearing in Maseru, Feb. 24, 2020 (AP photo).

Ha Abia is a sprawling, dusty neighborhood on the outskirts of Maseru, the capital of Lesotho. Bisected by the main highway heading south from the city, it flashes past in a blur of roadside taverns, small grocery stores, street vendors and the ubiquitous honking of local taxis. Since 1998, it has been the political home of Lesotho’s two-time prime minister, Thomas Motsoahae Thabane. In the past year, Thabane has faced growing political opposition, which came to a head in April, when he was charged in connection with his ex-wife’s murder in 2017. Thabane tried for weeks to negotiate a deal […]

Demonstrators gather near the White House to protest the death of George Floyd, Washington, June 2, 2020 (AP photo by Alex Brandon).

As a young boy in an internationally minded African American family in the Washington D.C. of the 1960s, I avidly collected stamps from other countries and visited the city’s embassies for the kinds of promotional publications countries put out about life back home in their societies in the pre-internet age. One of those embassies represented Moscow. It was the height of the Cold War, not many years after the famous 1956 remarks by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, in which he vowed to “bury” the United States and its Western allies. Less well remembered, during a visit to Los Angeles three […]

A protester holds an Iraqi flag during anti-government protests in Baghdad, Iraq, May 12, 2020 (AP photo by Hadi Mizban).

BAGHDAD—The Islamic State is stepping up its attacks in Iraq, fulfilling the expectations of many analysts that the extremist group would mount a comeback after the Iraqi government declared victory over it in 2017. While the Islamic State has yet to show the same capabilities it had at its peak in 2013 and 2014, when it gained control of several provinces and population centers—including Mosul, one of Iraq’s largest cities—the tempo of attacks has been increasing for over six months. This coincides with a period of domestic unrest due to widespread anti-government protests. The U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State […]

People wearing masks ride a mini truck in Prayagraj, India, May 23, 2020 (AP photo by Rajesh Kumar Singh).

The coronavirus pandemic, at least in its first wave, is not expected to peak in South Asia until July. But countries in the region, which have yet to witness a significant outbreak along the lines of China, the United States or the hardest-hit parts of Europe, are already loosening their lockdowns. The pandemic is spreading unevenly across the world for reasons that are not always entirely clear, so it is difficult to predict the public health impact of easing lockdowns. But what is clear is that the pandemic will leave South Asia poorer, less democratic and more illiberal. And China […]

Ministers of the 11 countries remaining in the Trans-Pacific Partnership hold a press conference after signing the revised free trade pact in Santiago, Chile, March 8, 2018 (Kyodo photo via AP Images).

Editor’s Note: Guest columnist Edward Alden is filling in for Kimberly Ann Elliott, who will be back next week. The first rule when you find yourself stuck down a hole is to stop digging. After more than three years of the Trump administration’s go-it-alone “America First” strategy, the United States now finds itself in a very deep hole indeed. Trump has alienated once-close allies in Europe, Japan, Canada and Mexico by imposing tariffs on their exports to the U.S. and threatening more. His administration has pulled out of major international agreements like the Iran nuclear agreement and the Paris climate […]

President Donald Trump speaks after viewing the successful SpaceX launch in Cape Canaveral, Florida, May 23, 2020 (AP photo by Alex Brandon).

Fifteen years ago this September, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick famously challenged the People’s Republic of China to become a “responsible stakeholder” in the international system. For too long, he suggested, China had been freeriding on the stable, open world created by the United States and its Western allies, while failing to internalize and embrace some of its most important norms and standards of conduct. It was time, Zoellick argued, for China to become a custodian of the rules-based international order, rather than a mere participant or bystander. The premise behind Zoellick’s argument was the “Spiderman rule”: […]

A Russian Air Force Tu-214 flies over Offutt Air Force Base, a flight allowed under the Open Skies Treaty, in Omaha, Neb., April 26, 2019 (photo by Chris Machian for the Omaha World-Herald via AP).

President Donald Trump’s recent decision to withdraw from the 1992 Open Skies Treaty, which has helped keep the post-Cold War peace, raises the long-term risk of armed conflict in Europe. While unfortunate, abandoning this 34-nation confidence-building measure is consistent with Trump’s years-long policy of confidence-demolition. First proposed by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1955 and negotiated under the George H.W. Bush administration, Open Skies allows signatories, including the United States and Russia, to fly unarmed observation aircraft over one another’s territory. This helps build a measure of transparency and trust regarding each countries’ military forces and activities, thereby enhancing stability and […]

South Korean President Moon Jae-in attends a G-20 virtual summit to discuss the coronavirus outbreak at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, March 26, 2020 (South Korea Presidential Blue House via AP Images).

VIENNA—Multilateral diplomacy is a complex process, and its success depends on interpersonal relationships that are forged during numerous formal and informal gatherings, including conferences, lunches and receptions. During difficult negotiations, the most sensitive sticking points are often ironed out informally, in corridors or lounges. For example, during talks to create a European common market in February 1957, French Prime Minister Guy Mollet and German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer made important progress during a walk they took in the gardens of the Hotel Matignon in Paris, where the talks were being held. Their informal discussions paved the way for the signing of […]

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