North America
Inflation Was Supposed to Decide the Midterms. American Voters Had Other Things on Their Minds.
American voters went to the polls on Tuesday in an election that was widely expected to punish President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party. Inflation remains unusually high, petrol and food prices have placed substantial…
The FBI Searched a Former President’s Home. That Should Be Both Normal and Extraordinary.
On Monday, FBI agents searched Donald Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. By Friday, a federal judge had unsealed the search warrant and an inventory of material seized from the property, showing that investigators removed…
Pelosi Went to Taiwan. China Responded With Missiles. Was the Visit Worth It?
The Speaker of the US House of Representatives arrived in Taipei on Tuesday despite repeated warnings from Beijing that her visit would provoke a serious response. She met President Tsai Ing-wen, addressed Taiwanese officials and…
America Is Investigating January 6. The Riot May Not Be the Most Important Part.
More than seventeen months after supporters of Donald Trump stormed the United States Capitol, Americans watched the first prime-time public hearing of the House committee investigating January 6 on Thursday night. The images remain extraordinary…
Imran Khan May Lose Power. The More Important Question Is Whether Pakistan’s Institutions Can Win.
Pakistan has spent the last week approaching what should, in principle, be a fairly ordinary event in a parliamentary democracy: a prime minister may no longer possess the confidence of parliament. The reality has become…
The Crisis Is in Europe. So Why Does Europe Still Look Like the Middleman?
Emmanuel Macron spent nearly six hours talking to Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday. He then travelled to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been moving through his own…
America Is Publicly Revealing What It Says Russia Is Planning. That May Be Part of the Strategy.
For more than two months, the crisis around Ukraine has revolved around a question nobody outside the Kremlin can answer with certainty: does Vladimir Putin actually intend to order a major Russian military operation? This…
Everyone Is Warning Russia Not to Invade Ukraine. What Happens If Putin Doesn’t Believe Them?
When I wrote about Russia and Ukraine in early December, the central problem was uncertainty. Russia had assembled substantial military forces near Ukraine, American and Ukrainian officials were warning that Moscow might be preparing for…
Biden Invited the World’s Democracies to a Summit. First, Someone Had to Decide Who Counts.
The stated objectives were difficult to disagree with: defending democracy against authoritarianism, fighting corruption and promoting human rights. Biden argued that democracy is facing a global challenge and that democratic governments need to demonstrate that…
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…
The Last American Soldier Has Left Afghanistan. So What Did Twenty Years Achieve?
There was no peace treaty. There was no victory parade. The government America spent twenty years supporting had already disappeared, the Taliban controlled Kabul, and the final days of the evacuation had been marked by…
The War Is Ending. The Terrorism Isn’t.
On Thursday evening, thousands of people were still gathered outside Kabul airport, hoping to escape Afghanistan before the final American troops leave. Then a bomb exploded at Abbey Gate. An ISIS-K suicide bomber attacked the…
