When a post-colonial country with little or no democratic tradition escapes a brutal dictatorship, it rarely becomes a democracy. Instead, it is likely to be confronted by political chaos and foreign actors jostling for strategic …
Articles by: "Schlomo"
When US President Bill Clinton backed China’s accession to the World Trade Organization, he suggested that the move would spark profound changes ‘from the inside out’. By joining the WTO, China would not simply be …
‘Afghanistan was the ultimate nation-building mission’, former US president George W. Bush wrote in his 2010 memoir. ‘We had liberated the country from a primitive dictatorship, and we had a moral obligation to leave behind …
For years, Iranian moderates, such as former President Hassan Rouhani, tried and failed to reach an understanding with the West. Now, a hardliner is in charge. Does President Ebrahim Raisi’s election spell the end of …
Across the Middle East, alliances are shifting in unexpected ways. What does the emerging configuration mean for a region that is seemingly eternally walking a thin line between war and peace? The ongoing shifts are …
Soon, Benjamin Netanyahu will no longer be Israel’s prime minister. After 12 years in power, what kind of country will he leave behind? Netanyahu wasn’t always the irremediable hawk that his opponents (especially outside Israel) …
The sudden eruption of war outside and inside Israel’s borders has shocked a complacent nation. Throughout Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year premiership, the Palestinian problem was buried and forgotten. The recent Abraham Accords, establishing diplomatic relations with …
President Joe Biden has announced that he will withdraw US troops from Afghanistan by 11 September, finally ending America’s longest war ever. The move was indicative of a broader shift by the United States away …
Can Russia accept living peacefully next to a sovereign, independent and undivided Ukraine? Or is open war inevitable? This has long been the paramount question for Eastern Europe, and it has abruptly returned to the …
Former US president Donald Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ campaign against Iran utterly failed to enhance regional or global security. His successor, Joe Biden, must not make the same mistake. The centrepiece of Trump’s Iran policy was …
In the first foreign-policy speech of his presidency, Joe Biden had a simple message for the world: ‘America is back’. But restoring the credibility of US diplomacy and implementing an effective foreign policy will be …
On 11 December, President Donald Trump proclaimed that the United States would recognise Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara, an apparent reward for the country’s decision to establish diplomatic relations with Israel. The move …