Diplomacy
Xi, Putin and Modi Just Stood Together in China. The Image Matters Because the World Is No Longer Dividing Neatly Into an American Bloc and an Anti-American One.
China has spent the past week making a very deliberate argument about the international system it wants to build. At the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin, Xi Jinping hosted leaders including Vladimir Putin and…
Trump Says America Will Help Guarantee Ukraine’s Security. That May Be More Important Than the Territory Ukraine Eventually Loses or Keeps.
The diplomatic atmosphere around Ukraine has changed considerably in only one week. After Donald Trump’s Alaska meeting with Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travelled to Washington on 18 August accompanied by an unusually powerful…
Trump Gave Putin a Red-Carpet Welcome in Alaska. There Is Still No Ceasefire. The Summit Has Changed Who Is Being Pressured to Compromise.
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met in Alaska on Friday for nearly three hours in the first US-Russia presidential summit since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The symbolism was extraordinary.
More Western Governments Are Moving Towards Recognising Palestine. Recognition Cannot Create a State by Itself, but Refusing Recognition Until a Perfect State Already Exists Creates Its Own Circular Problem.
The diplomatic argument over Palestinian statehood is changing rapidly. France has announced that it intends to recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September, Britain has said it will recognise Palestine…
Trump’s Tariffs Are Becoming Permanent. The World Is Not Returning to the Old Free-Trade System.
Donald Trump’s tariff experiment is beginning to look less like a temporary negotiating tactic and more like the foundation of a new American trade system. On 31 July, Trump signed an executive order setting revised…
NATO Has Agreed to Spend Far More on Defence. Trump Will Call It a Victory. Europe Should Ask Why It Took Doubting America to Make Europe Invest Seriously in Itself.
The NATO summit in The Hague has formalised one of the largest changes in Western defence policy since the end of the Cold War. Alliance members have committed themselves to a new target under which…
Israel and Iran Have Stopped Fighting. Trump Says the Nuclear Programme Was Destroyed. But a Ceasefire Is Not the Same Thing as Solving the Nuclear Problem.
The direct war between Israel and Iran has, for now, ended almost as suddenly as it began. After twelve days of Israeli strikes, Iranian missile attacks and the unprecedented American bombing of Fordow, Natanz and…
The United States Has Bombed Iran’s Nuclear Facilities. Trump Says the Programme Has Been “Obliterated”. The Harder Question Is Whether America Destroyed a Nuclear Threat or Changed Iran’s Incentive to Build a Bomb.
The United States has now entered the Israel-Iran war directly. Overnight, American forces struck Iran’s three principal nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, using B-2 stealth bombers and bunker-busting munitions against facilities that Israel…
Israel Has Attacked Iran’s Nuclear Programme. Iran Is Firing Ballistic Missiles Back. This Is What Happens When One Country Believes Waiting for Deterrence to Work Is More Dangerous Than Starting a War to Prevent It.
The shadow war between Israel and Iran has become an open interstate war. On 13 June, Israel launched a large-scale series of strikes across Iran, targeting nuclear facilities, missile infrastructure, air defences and senior military…
India Struck Pakistan. Pakistan Responded. Then Both Sides Stopped. The Most Important Question Is Whether This Was Successful Deterrence or Another Turn of an Escalation Cycle.
The crisis that began with the 22 April Pahalgam attack has now crossed into direct military confrontation between India and Pakistan and, at least for the moment, returned from it. In the early hours of…
India and Pakistan Are Preparing for the Possibility of Conflict. The Most Dangerous Part Is That Both Governments May Believe the Other Side Will Back Down First.
Nearly two weeks after the Pahalgam terrorist attack, the India-Pakistan crisis has not subsided. It has instead moved into the much more dangerous period between an attack and an expected response, when neither side knows…
Twenty-Six People Were Killed in Kashmir. India and Pakistan Are Escalating Again. The Hardest Question Is How a State Punishes Terrorism Without Giving Terrorists Control Over What States Do Next.
The killing of 26 people near Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir on 22 April has produced the most serious India-Pakistan crisis in years. Gunmen attacked tourists in the Baisaran meadow, turning a place associated with Kashmir’s…
