Guy Sorman, City Journal
Hong Kong's freedoms are vanishing before our eyes. The West, not knowing how to respond to Beijing's de facto annexation of Hong Kong, wonders: isn't Hong Kong part of China, and isn't this domestic matter none of our business? This Western passivity is a grave mistake because Chinese aggression in Hong Kong reveals the Beijing regime's long-term strategy.
Dario Cristiani, GMF
In September 2019, Italy's once anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) agreed to enter a governing alliance with the Democratic Party as well as the smaller centrist Italia Viva and leftist Liberi e Uguali (Free and Equal). By establishing a coalition government with what was considered its political nemesis, M5S managed to remain in office and to avoid early parliamentary elections. However, its influence has gradually weakened, as shown by its poor performance in local elections this year. Читать дальше...
Dalibor Rohac, The Bulwark
Has Hungary's authoritarian prime minister assured his own defeat?
Semih Idiz, Al Monitor
Turkey is sticking to its guns over its controversial purchase of Russian made S-400 missile air defense systems. Increasing domestic skepticism regarding the reasons for the purchase has also not deterred Ankara, which is generally averse to political compromise.
Ferdinando Giugliano, Bloomberg
Covid-19 prompted states around the world to seize more power. This will have long-term consequences for economies.
Sudha Ramachandran, The Diplomat
With the Nepal Communist Party cracking apart, Beijing is scrambling to preserve its interests.
Jörg Phil Friedrich, Worldcrunch
BERLIN — By now we've got the good news from the pharmaceutical industry: It has developed coronavirus vaccines heading into mass-production. This heralds the start of what may prove to be the greatest immunization effort in world history. Across the globe, millions of people will be
Victor Cha, CSIS
More likely than not, the Joe Biden administration will have a North Korea crisis on its hands within its first year. CSIS data show that North Korea conducts more missile and nuclear provocations in U.S. presidential transition years. Less than three months after President Barack Obama took office, North Korea launched a long-range rocket, and six weeks after that conducted a nuclear test. Three weeks after President Donald Trump's inauguration, North Korea...
Tom Mitchell, Financial Times
Chinese diplomats fight fire with fire to defend their country's honour against accusations from the west
Alvaro Vargas Llosa, Wash. Examiner
There's nothing like a pandemic to facilitate the work of a totalitarian state. Any form of political persecution can be justified as a necessary measure adopted to preserve the life and health of potential COVID-19 victims — and any form of political dissent can be construed as antisocial conduct threatening to others.
Yanis Varoufakis, Project Syndicate
This year has resembled a rapidly receding tide, forcing us to confront submerged truths. One lesson we learned in 2020 is that national governments had been choosing not to exercise their enormous powers so that those whom globalization had enriched could exercise their own.
Kelly McParland, National Post
Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole has a number of natural advantages as he works to win hearts and votes among Canadians who still know little about him.
Shannon Proudfoot, Maclean's
The leader who rode youthful optimism to power will now contend with a pack of fresh faces in 2021 as an election likely looms
Iain Pope, The Scotsman
Let's hand it to Boris Johnson. Announcing a Brexit deal on Xmas Eve was a master-stroke.
Paul Goodman, Conservative Home
During the run-up to the EU referendum, which the Westminster Village believed Remain would win, Boris Johnson was confronted with a choice. It is said that his safest option was to stick with the winning side. This is wrong.
John Sullivan, War on the Rocks
Ancient Greek roots run deep in America. "What Athens was in miniature," Thomas Paine predicted, "America will be in magnitude." From the beginning of the American experiment, Thucydides' history of the war between Athens and Sparta provided useful lessons for the nation's founding fathers. John Adams wrote to his ten year old son, John Quincy, that his future country "may require other Wars, as well as Councils and...
Walter Russell Mead, Foreign Affairs
Why Liberal Internationalism Failed