Alireza Nader, FDD
Last month's re-election of Justin Trudeau as Canada's prime minister provides an opportunity to reflect on Ottawa's relationship with the Islamic Republic in Iran. Iran policy is an issue of great importance to hundreds of thousands of Canadian-Iranians and their allies. So far, however, Trudeau's Iran policy has been weak to nonexistent.
Kazuhiko Togo, East Asia Forum
Whether Kishida takes a dovish approach in line with his faction, or a hawkish approach in deference to LDP power brokers, will hinge on his policies toward China, Russia, South Korea and the question of enemy base missile strike capability.
Daniel Davis, 1945
Calls by U.S. leaders to extend security guarantees to Taiwan against an aggressive China are on the rise. American pundits have likewise been eager and disturbingly casual about offering up U.S. service members to go and die for Taipei. Before taking another step down this dangerous path, however, these leaders need to consider just how willing...
D. Sevastopulo, K. Hille & S. Pfeifer, FT
Revelations by the Financial Times that China tested two hypersonic weapons in recent months have sparked alarm among US defence officials because it suggests Beijing is making faster progress than expected on a new class of missile defence system-busting arms.
John Bolton, WSJ
Team Biden needs a fuller strategy that includes international recognition and new regional alliances.
Diego Cupolo, Al Monitor
Citing serious democratic backsliding, the European Commission's latest report on Turkey found few areas of progress in the nation's long-stalled accession process as Brussels seeks avenues to improve relations.
Fred Kaplan, Slate
In a test this past August, according to an article in last weekend's Financial Times, this missile flew at "hypersonic" speeds in a low orbit all the way around the globe. Toward the end of the flight, it released a vehicle (capable of containing a nuclear warhead), which then glided toward its target. Such a missile could approach the United States not just from...
Michael Kofman & Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Foreign Affairs
The Biden administration came into office with a clear and unambiguous foreign policy priority: countering a rising China. The administration's public statements, its early national security planning documents, and its initial diplomatic forays have all suggested that pushing back against Beijing's growing global influence will be Washington's national security focus, alongside transnational threats such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. Читать дальше...
S. Johnson, Big Think
A decade after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan is moving ahead with plans to restart its nuclear power infrastructure.
Worldcrunch
LONDON — The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said earlier this month that Iranian and Saudi negotiators had so far had four rounds of "continuous" talks, though both sides had agreed to keep them private. The talks are to ease fraught relations between Iran's radical Shia regime and the Saudi kingdom, a key Western ally in the Middle East.
A. Oliveros, Am. Quarterly
Pragmatic adjustments have abated Venezuela's collapse, but the bigger picture remains a bleak one.
James Przystup, Nat'l Interest
Australia, India, and Japan have quietly spent years deepening their partnership. The United States and the United Kingdom are also committed to strengthening relationships in the region.
Aleksandra Srdanovic, Russia Matters
The discord of American politics, U.S. military engagements abroad, the English-language dark web—all these offer myriad opportunities for criticism. And Russian President Vladimir Putin took advantage of them with gusto after his June 16 Geneva summit with U.S. counterpart Joe Biden. One journalist called...
Hilal Khashan, Geopolitical Futures
The Arab uprisings briefly resurrected the idea of Arab nationalism. During the 2011 Pan Arab Games in Qatar, spectators sang the unofficial Arab national anthem, the lyrics of which promote the idea that Arabs cannot be separated by artificial borders or religion because the Arabic language unites them all. But the euphoria of the moment soon dissipated, as the reality of factionalism set in. Despite various attempts at unity, Arab nations have time and... Читать дальше...
Mark Bhaskar, e-International Relations
The re-emergence of Turkey as a major military power has altered the dynamics of the Mediterranean, bringing together a diverse set of allies whose interests are threatened by prospective Turkish expansion. However, the gap in military power between Turkey and its adversaries is growing with few demonstrable measures taken by Mediterranean powers to compensate and rebalance the regional system. The imbalance is acute in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea... Читать дальше...
Freddy Gray, Spectator
He's still pretending to be a TV personality on a big book promotion tour. But Mr Z is running and everybody knows it. He has a devoted and surprisingly professional campaign behind him, the nucleus of a political party, conceived with a clear mission: to restore la gloire de la France. His new book has the faintly ridiculous title La France n'a pas dit son dernier mot (France has not said its final word) and has already sold more than 150,000 copies. He's insanely popular. Читать дальше...
G. Chazan & S. Fleming, FT
As Europe hurtles towards an angry showdown with Poland over the primacy of EU law, one politician is trying harder than most to slam on the brakes — Angela Merkel.
Eran Lerman, JISS
The extensive Iranian military maneuvers near Azerbaijan's borders at the end of September were designed to intimidate the leadership in Baku, to deter it from curbing Iranian illegal trade with Armenia, and to force Azerbaijan to downgrade the country's strategic relationship with Israel. In response, Israel should be careful not make any commitments that cannot be fulfilled. However, Israel should alert Russia and others of the consequences to Iran of such threatening behavior. Читать дальше...