It seems obvious that sanctions—an increasingly important tool of Western foreign policy—should inflict significant pain on the target without exacting unsustainably high costs from the country imposing them. But the European Union’s sanctions on Russia—intended …
Recently released details of Kenya’s 2014 loan agreement with China to finance a controversial railway project have once again highlighted the predatory nature of Chinese lending in developing countries. The contract not only imposed virtually …
The strategic partnership between the United States and India is pivotal to maintaining the balance of power in the vast Indo-Pacific region and counterbalancing China’s hegemonic ambitions. The US is India’s second-largest trading partner, and …
In the year since the abandonment of Afghanistan to the Taliban by the US and its allies, the country has gone down precisely the path any logical observer would have predicted: a medieval, jihadist, terrorist-sheltering …
For nearly two decades, the four Rajapaksa brothers and their sons have run Sri Lanka like a family business—and a disorderly one, at that. With their grand construction projects and spendthrift ways, they saddled Sri …
The era of cheap oil and gas is over. Russia’s war in Ukraine—or, more specifically, Europe’s ambitious effort to wean itself off Russian fossil fuels at a time when international supplies are already tight—is driving …
With global attention focused on Russia’s war in Ukraine, China’s territorial expansionism in Asia—especially its expanding border conflict with India—has largely fallen off the international community’s radar. Yet, in the vast glaciated heights of the …
When the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue was first conceived as a strategic coalition of the Indo-Pacific’s four leading democracies, many doubted that it would amount to much. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi mocked it as a …
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the West’s unprecedented response, represent a watershed in international relations, marking the formal end of the post–Cold War era and setting the stage for seismic geopolitical and geo-economic shifts. But …
Much of the democratic world would like the United States to remain the pre-eminent global power. But with the US apparently committed to strategic overreach, that outcome risks becoming unlikely. The problem with America’s global …
As the pandemic enters its third year, questions about Covid-19’s origins appear increasingly distant. But if we are to forestall another coronavirus pandemic in the 21st century, understanding the causes of the current one is …
As the world’s largest, strongest and longest-surviving dictatorship, contemporary China lacks the rule of law. Yet it is increasingly using its rubber-stamp parliament to enact domestic legislation asserting territorial claims and rights in international law. …