Europe
Austria Is Planning to Make COVID Vaccination Compulsory. How Much Choice Do We Give Up to Protect Everyone Else?
That is an extraordinary escalation in government power over an individual’s medical decision, and it deserves a more serious argument than either “vaccines work, so obviously everyone should be forced to take them” or “my…
Poland Doesn’t Want to Leave the EU. It Wants to Decide Which EU Rules Apply.
Britain spent years arguing about whether membership of the European Union had taken too much sovereignty away from Parliament. Eventually, British voters chose to leave. Poland is now creating a different and potentially more difficult…
Germany Has Voted. For the First Time in Sixteen Years, Merkel Wasn’t Really on the Ballot.
That feels significant beyond Germany. Merkel became chancellor in 2005, which means an entire generation of Europeans has grown up knowing only one German leader. She governed through the global financial crisis, the eurozone crisis,…
America Says Alliances Are Back. France Just Recalled Its Ambassador.
After four years in which Donald Trump repeatedly criticised NATO allies, questioned multilateral institutions and approached international relationships in unusually transactional terms, Biden has tried to present himself as almost the opposite. America would consult…
Belarus, Sanctions and the Limits of International Power
Ryanair Flight 4978 was travelling from Athens to Vilnius when Belarusian authorities informed its pilots of an alleged bomb threat and the aircraft landed in Minsk. Once it did, Belarus arrested opposition journalist Roman Protasevich…
The Return of Strategic Bargaining
This week, international politics increasingly resembles a crowded negotiating table rather than a rules-based forum, as major powers reinsert themselves into diplomacy not as neutral guarantors of peace, but as strategic stakeholders seeking influence, leverage,…
The Limits of Moral Diplomacy
This week’s developments across West Asia and Europe reveal a persistent contradiction at the heart of contemporary international politics: the growing invocation of law, norms, and accountability without a corresponding willingness to impose consequences on…
America Returns, Red Lines Harden, and Diplomacy Is Put on Trial
This week marks a recalibration rather than a rupture in international politics. I observe that power is not being redistributed so much as rearticulated, through language, posture, and the reassertion of norms that had appeared…
Climate, Credibility, and the Reassertion of Diplomacy
This week, international politics reflects a discernible shift from rupture to recalibration, as several states signal renewed commitment to multilateralism, diplomacy, and institutional authority. The most consequential development unfolds in Washington, where the inauguration of…
Europe’s Quiet Balancing Act
This week, my focus turns toward Europe, where international politics rarely announces itself loudly but is constantly negotiated through institutions, norms, and careful compromise. What I observe is a region attempting to balance internal cohesion…
The Early Steps of Reopening
This week, the world is cautiously reopening. Countries that imposed strict lockdowns in March and April are beginning phased strategies, but the process is uneven and instructive. The central topic is reopening itself, and multiple…
