Beijing seeks to benefit from its ‘soft power’ platform
The US has traditionally excelled at developing soft power. However, those historical patterns appear to be shifting, significantly, under Donald Trump’s second presidency, creating opportunities for other powers, especially China.
Sustainable economies will own the future
Environmental and climate concerns appear to be in retreat worldwide. The word sustainability has become politically charged, the Trump administration openly mocks corporate ESG (environmental, social, governance) criteria and many companies are...
Iran’s Iraqi front
Iran has used Iraq to launch attacks on Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, as well as targeting the vicinity of Emirati nuclear facilities. Iraq, as an Iranian front, is a growing danger,...
Africa is the key to sustained global growth
More than 50 years after decolonization, the West still regards Africa as a supporting player in the global economy: a source of raw materials and little else. This outdated view has hampered...
New realignments rise from ruins of the Iran war
The US-Israeli war on Iran may not yet be over but its ramifications for the region's security architecture are already being felt from Riyadh to Ankara and from Abu Dhabi to Cairo....
The world must not turn its back on vaccination
With so many intractable problems in global politics, it is all the more frustrating that the international community often neglects pressing ones that can, in fact, be solved. Vaccination, which has stalled...
British poll results are a political earthquake
When the results from the May 7 local elections in England, as well as the Scottish and Welsh parliamentary elections, began to emerge, there were few genuine surprises. Yet the overall outcome...
Stolen Crimea: A Memory That Refuses to Burn, The Date Where Time Stands...
May 18th is a date when time stands still in mournful silence in every Crimean Tatar home. On the morning of May 18, 1944, while Crimean Tatar men were fighting Nazism on...
Better late than never: NATO must step up on defense spending
During a press conference last week in Montenegro, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said he was “extremely optimistic” about NATO’s future, pointing to recent increases in defense spending across the alliance, and...
War on Iran no longer a short-term operation
The war between the US and Iran has entered an ambiguous phase. While strikes still take place during the ceasefire, both sides are exchanging demands for the negotiations. Among the points raised...