Новости за 16.02.2021

Kelly McParland, National Post

Ottawa could speak up about attending the 2022 Beijing Olympics, being hosted by a murderous one-party state, but that would require backbone.

Joshua Keating, Slate

Amid rising tensions between the U.S. and China, the true origin of the coronavirus pandemic has become a highly fraught topic. Perhaps, China hawks in the U.S. suggest, Chinese authorities are covering up either a catastrophic error or a deliberate attack that caused the pandemic. Or maybe, their counterparts in China respond, the disease didn't come from China at all.

Janan Ganesh, Financial Times

Without an external foe to rail against, the nation turns on itself.

Salvatore Babones, Foreign Policy

Forget U.S. sanctions over arms deals. Indian-Russian alignment is in Washington's best interest.

Garrett Hinck & Pranay Vaddi, War on the Rocks

As the new administration reassesses U.S. nuclear policy, it will be forced to make decisions about the future of the country's ground-based, nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) arsenal. Many advocates of maintaining the nuclear status quo have argued that it is essential to completely replace America's aging Minuteman ICBMs with a new set of missiles, commonly referred to as the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent. And yet... Читать дальше...

Jessica Mathews, Foreign Affairs

For years, Joe Biden has portrayed the presidency of Donald Trump as an aberration from which the United States can quickly recover. Throughout the 2020 U.S. presidential campaign, Biden asserted that under his leadership, the United States would be "back at the head of the table." But a return to the pre-Trump status quo is not possible. The world—and the United States—have changed far too much. And although hailing the return of American hegemony might seem comforting to Americans... Читать дальше...

Deborah Seligsohn et al, ChinaFile

One year ago this month, a handful of Chinese military scientists reportedly received an experimental coronavirus vaccine. Almost certainly the first human trial, the injection was a shot across the bow: As manufacturers and governments across the globe raced to develop vaccines, China's would be at the forefront. In the U.S. and Europe, vaccine rollouts have gotten off to rocky...

Jacek Bartosiak, Geopolitical Futures

Once again, on the Vistula River, we are worried about security guarantees in the wake of a U.S. election. Politics is a dynamic, not a static, condition. The competition never ends.

Peter Beinart, New York Times

The United States doesn't just bomb its enemies. It chokes them.

Jim Lawley, Spectator

‘Scotland,' declared the Times in 1856, is ‘manifestly a country in want of a grievance.'

Simon Jenkins, Guardian

Nationalism is growing, and its appeal is deep - perhaps it's time to ask why so many people in Wales want to leave.

Mazal Mualem, Al Monitor

The tense relationship between Israel's top soldier and its top spy is well known in senior security circles. The head of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, and Mossad director Yossi Cohen disagree professionally from time to time and many believe they are undeclared rivals for the prime minister's job down the line.

Rachel Cheung & Benjamin Wilhelm, WPR

The shocking allegations of systematic sexual abuse of ethnic Uighurs in China's Xinjiang region, detailed in a recent BBC report, did not come as a surprise to Arfat Erkin, a Uighur student living in the United States. "It is something all Uighurs know subconsciously," the 23-year-old told me. "We all knew that, but we never brought it up or faced it, because it's devastating."

Eli Fuhrman, 1945

Crises on the Korean Peninsula often appear to be sparked by overt acts of provocation or aggression by North Korea, including artillery bombardmentstargeting the South to tests of the DPRK's growing ballistic missile arsenal. The threat of violence on the Korean Peninsula stems not just from the overt, however, but also from the covert. In addition to its...

Robert Kaplan, National Interest

America's standing in the world can now be improved in quite a number of ways from the top down. The government can be made to work. The State Department can be renewed. But this transition should begin from the ground up; it should start with the human element.

Tony Barber, Financial Times

Outreach to Moscow risks ignoring the concerns of central and eastern EU countries.

Matthew Karnitschnig, Politico EU

European foreign policy died in Moscow last week. The burial will be held at sea this spring, some 35 fathoms under the Baltic, where a towering Russian vessel called "Fortuna" is laying the final section of the 1,230 kilometer-long Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany.

Michael Green & Evan Medeiros, FA

President Joe Biden entered the White House determined to restore the world's confidence in the United States. That task is particularly important in the Indo-Pacific, a region that has become as central to geopolitics as Europe was during the Cold War. The United States' presence, influence, and credibility in the region are flagging, and restoring them will require Biden to climb out of a deep hole. North Korea's nuclear and missile programs have continued... Читать дальше...