Diplomacy
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…
A Ceasefire Is Not Peace
After eleven days of fighting, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire mediated by Egypt. For Israelis who had spent nights running towards bomb shelters and Palestinians who had lived through Israeli bombardment of Gaza,…
Jerusalem, Gaza and the Problem With Choosing a Side
Rockets have been fired from Gaza towards Israeli cities. Israel has responded with extensive air strikes on Gaza. Buildings have collapsed, families have been killed and Israeli civilians have repeatedly rushed towards bomb shelters. Yet…
Diplomacy in Suspension: Negotiation Without Trust and Power Without Resolution
This week’s international developments reveal a global order increasingly defined by suspended outcomes. Diplomacy persists, negotiations resume, alliances deepen, and crises are managed, yet rarely resolved. I observe that states are engaging not to close…
Diplomacy at the Fault Lines: Elections, Alliances, and Strategic Signalling
This week, international developments reflect a recurring pattern in contemporary global politics: diplomacy increasingly functions less as conflict resolution and more as risk management. Across regions, states engage not to settle disputes conclusively but to…
Diplomacy at the Fault Lines
This week’s international developments reveal a recurring pattern in contemporary global politics: diplomacy unfolds not as conflict resolution, but as risk management. States are increasingly compelled to engage across fault lines shaped by domestic politics,…
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…
Ceasefires, Credibility, and the Politics of Restraint
This week in global affairs is marked less by dramatic escalation and more by deliberate restraint. Across regions, states signal a preference for managing tensions rather than resolving them outright, relying on ceasefires, calibrated diplomacy,…
Negotiation Without Concessions
This week, international politics is defined by cautious engagement rather than decisive breakthroughs. I observe a recurring pattern across regions: actors signal willingness to talk, cooperate, or reform, yet remain unwilling to yield first. Diplomacy…
Disengagement, Legitimacy, and the Limits of Resolution
This week, international politics is shaped less by dramatic breakthroughs than by careful recalibration. I observe a pattern in which states seek to lower immediate risk without resolving deeper disputes, prioritising manageability over settlement. From…
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…
