Matthew Smith, Oilprice
For decades during the Cold War, Latin America was a focal point of conflict between the two superpowers, the U.S. and Soviet Union. While the U.S. emerged victorious after the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, Putin’s Russia could achieve what the Soviet Union couldn’t for four decades, gain an upper hand in the silent war for Latin America.
Leonid Ragozin, Politico EU
Russian president’s desperate tactics are undermining his legitimacy among supporters.
Mark Galeotti, Moscow Times
A story that raises serious probability questions is being accepted by many as proven.
Marvin Ott, Foreign Policy Research Institute
The uneasy relationship between India and China took a sudden turn for the worse in June. With no apparent warning, a violent clash broke out between Indian and Chinese troops manning a remote section of disputed border in the Himalayas. Because a prior agreement barred firearms in the area, the fighting was conducted with the most primitive of weapons: stones, clubs, iron bars, and bare hands. The sheer intensity of what resembled a “gang war”... Читать дальше...
Ryan Cooper, The Week
Before Donald Trump took office, he promised he was going to stick it to China on trade. When he assumed power, he indeed did so — threatening and then levying tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Chinese imports. China responded in kind, before agreeing to a largely symbolic trade agreement in...
Anthony Dworkin, ECFR
North African countries, each for their own reasons, are increasingly turning their attention towards sub-Saharan Africa.
Jim O'Neill, Project Syndicate
Given the sheer scale and unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 economic shock, it is not surprising that most commentators believe the outlook for recovery is bleak. But key weekly and monthly indicators suggest that a sharp return to growth remains more likely than not.
D. Grossman, JT
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – As the China-India military standoff along their disputed land border heads into its third month, questions and theories continue to swirl about Beijing’s motivation for taking such aggressive action at this time.
Gary Schmitt, The American Interest
As most countries get ready to tighten their belts in the wake of COVID-19, Australia is ramping up its defense spending.
Ben Caspit, Al Monitor
Ahead of the US presidential elections, and on the backdrop of mysterious explosions, Israel prepares for various escalation scenarios on Iran’s part.
Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/07/israel-iran-us-benjamin-netanyahu-donald-trump-amos-yadlin.html#ixzz6RZQFZDkI
Martin Wolf, Financial Times
An administration that cannot govern makes a stark contrast with China
Peter Goodman, New York Times
Its decision to carry on in the face of the pandemic has yielded a surge of deaths without sparing its economy from damage — a red flag as the United States and Britain move to lift lockdowns.
M. Dal Santo, Lowy
The West’s isolation of Russia has helped Moscow acquiesce in
an expanded Chinese presence it would once have resented.
Elder Mamedov, Resp. Statecraft
The increasing traction that the ideas of restraint and realism in foreign policy are gaining across the political spectrum in the United States has triggered defensive reaction from the Washington foreign policy establishment. In variety of op-eds and articles, members of this establishment, also known as “the blob”,...
Ekaterina Zolotova, Geopolitical Futures
The Russian government is reigniting its push into the Arctic. Despite the challenging global economic environment, the Kremlin plans to build at least five new icebreakers, which, according to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, will be used to further develop the Northern Sea Route across Russia’s Arctic coast. On Monday, Russia announcedthat it had started construction on the Leader project, the world’s most powerful nuclear-powered icebreaker, at... Читать дальше...
Jeremy Shapiro, WOTR
America is facing more challenges at home than just a pandemic. Political polarization, racism, and deep-seated inequality all roil U.S. society and domestic politics. These domestic troubles have already eroded American standing abroad and caused many foreign policy thinkers to wonder whether the United States has the necessary unity, purpose, and prosperity at home to forge an effective foreign policy.
Joseph Nye, Project Syndicate
If Joe Biden defeats Donald Trump in November, the question he will face is not whether to restore the liberal international order. It is whether the US can work with an inner core of allies to promote democracy and human rights while cooperating with a broader set of states to manage the rules-based international institutions needed to face transnational threats.