Politics
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…
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 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…
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 The battlefield has been replaced by…
Kabul Has Fallen. Twenty Years of War Ended in a Week.
There will undoubtedly be an argument that America gave Afghanistan twenty years, enormous amounts of money and a military, and Afghans simply failed to use them. That explanation absolves the foreign power almost perfectly. It…
Five Provincial Capitals in Three Days. Afghanistan Is Starting to Look Very Different.
Last Sunday, I wrote that the Taliban was beginning to test whether Afghanistan’s government could defend major cities without large numbers of foreign troops. Seven days later, that test is already producing answers. And they…
America Is Leaving Afghanistan. The Taliban Isn’t Waiting.
In April, when President Biden announced that American troops would leave Afghanistan, I wrote that there would probably never be a perfect moment to withdraw. I still think that. But four months later, watching what…
Tunisia’s Democracy Survived the Arab Spring. Can It Survive Its Own Failure to Govern?
President Kais Saied announced this evening that he is dismissing Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, suspending parliament for 30 days and assuming executive authority with the assistance of a new prime minister whom he will appoint.
Cuba Is Protesting. The Argument Over Why Is Almost as Political as the Protests.
What began in San Antonio de los Baños spread into demonstrations across towns and cities, including Havana. Protesters complained about food shortages, medicine, electricity cuts and the government’s handling of COVID-19. Some shouted “Patria y…
Haiti’s President Was Assassinated. Who Governs the Country Now?
Since then, Haitian authorities have arrested a number of suspects, including former Colombian soldiers, while several others were killed by police. Investigators are still trying to determine who organised the operation and why. Those questions…
