Now that we have entered a new period of geopolitical conflict, protectionism and regionalism, one wonders whether the cosmopolitan, globalised world of Davos is gone forever. Returning after a two-year pandemic-induced hiatus, this year’s World …
Articles by: "Carl Bildt"
While the likely outcome of Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine remains unclear, Russia’s aggression has already changed the European security order in important ways. The only modern European historical comparison is Hitler’s invasion of Poland …
The world is not enduring a ‘Ukraine crisis’, but rather a Russia crisis. So said Germany’s new foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, at the most recent Munich Security Conference, which was dominated by the situation in …
The Russian threat to Ukraine isn’t the only potential crisis in Eastern Europe this year. Bosnia and Herzegovina is heading for a period of deep political turmoil, with a key election scheduled for October. Bosnia …
As reports pile up about Russia’s military mobilisation on Ukraine’s border and the Kremlin’s diplomatic demands, questions abound. What is going on? What will come next? Will Russia invade? In fact, Russian President Vladimir Putin …
The vastness of Eurasia is becoming bracketed by belligerence. On the western front, Russia has deployed a growing number of military units to the regions near its border with Ukraine, inviting a flurry of speculation …
These are demanding times. Geopolitical tensions are rising, primarily—but not exclusively—between China and the United States. Yet, at the same time, there is a deep need for inclusive global cooperation to fight the pandemic and …
With two decades of war in Afghanistan coming to the grimmest of possible ends, it is worth remembering that three decades have now passed since war came to the Balkans. Both are case studies in …
America is back. That was the key message US President Joe Biden sought to convey during his first trip abroad since taking office in January. But while Biden himself has rejoined the mix of global …
Gaza has long been one of those geopolitical problems that everyone wishes would just disappear. Israel, certainly, would prefer to seal off the Palestinian enclave—both from its own territory and from its collective mind. And …
With ‘vaccine nationalism’ intensifying by the day, the global effort to end the Covid-19 pandemic is at risk of faltering. As of mid-March, the coronavirus has infected approximately 120 million people globally, causing around 2.6 …
Speaking in Kabul on 14 February on the 32nd anniversary of the Soviet Union’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, the country’s president, Ashraf Ghani, made an important distinction. The civil war that devastated Afghanistan after the withdrawal …