Governance
A Fuel Price Has Brought Kazakhs Into the Streets. It Probably Isn’t Only About Fuel.
Residents of Zhanaozen, a city in western Kazakhstan’s oil-producing region, have begun demonstrating after the price of liquefied petroleum gas rose sharply at the beginning of the year. LPG is widely used to fuel cars…
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…
South Africa Warned the World About Omicron. The World Responded by Closing Its Borders.
By Friday, governments around the world were restricting travel from southern Africa, stock markets were falling, scientists were racing to understand a heavily mutated coronavirus variant and the World Health Organization had classified it as…
One Word Nearly Broke COP26. That Word Explains the Entire Problem.
Almost 200 countries adopted the Glasgow Climate Pact, an agreement intended to accelerate climate action during this decade and keep alive the possibility of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Governments agreed to…
Everyone Agrees Climate Change Is a Problem. That Is the Easy Part.
COP26 has produced an extraordinary collection of promises already. More than 100 countries have backed a pledge to reduce global methane emissions by 30% from 2020 levels by the end of this decade. More than…
Sudan’s Generals Have Taken Power. The Warning Signs Were Already There.
The timing is difficult to ignore. Last Sunday, I wrote that Sudan had removed Omar al-Bashir in 2019 without fully removing the political principle that men with guns ultimately decide who governs. On Monday morning,…
More Than 200 People Died in Beirut. A Year Later, Lebanon Is Fighting Over Whether Anyone Can Be Held Responsible.
Approximately 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate had been stored for years at the city’s port. When it exploded, more than 200 people were killed, thousands were injured and entire neighbourhoods were devastated. The images were…
The Pandora Papers Reveal Something Bigger Than Tax Avoidance
More than 11.9 million confidential records from 14 companies providing offshore financial services have been examined by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and hundreds of journalists around the world. The investigation involves financial structures…
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…
Guinea’s President Changed the Rules to Stay in Power. Then the Army Changed Them Again.
On 5 September, gunfire erupted around the presidential palace in Conakry. Hours later, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya appeared on television surrounded by members of Guinea’s special forces and announced that President Alpha Condé had been removed…
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 Taliban Won the War. Now It Has to Govern.
Afghanistan’s government disappeared with astonishing speed. President Ashraf Ghani fled. The Taliban occupied the presidential palace. Twenty years of American-backed government effectively ended. This week, the images have changed. The battlefield has been replaced by…
