By Victoria Preston
In times of change or disruption, we often look for a means by which to clear our minds and focus on the road ahead. In normal times, pilgrimage offers a way to achieve this. Each year, many millions embark on such a journey.
By Ambassador Charles Ries
The dust is still settling after the U.S. presidential election. A rampaging coronavirus pandemic, heading to second and third peaks in major industrial countries has led to new lockdowns.
By Arvid Bell
The global arms control architecture is crumbling. While this trend is often framed as a U.S.-Russia (or, sometimes, a U.S.-Russia-China) problem, the demise of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) and the potential expiration of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) on February 5, 2021, also severely affect the security of European states.
By Ambassador Bilahari Kausikan
Let me begin with five general observations:
First, problems don’t always have solutions. This is the case even if the solutions seem obvious and obvious solutions don’t always get implemented. The logic of domestic politics does not always automatically align with economic logic, and neither the logic of domestic politics nor economic logic neatly align with the logic of international relations.
By David Mednicoff
The recent agreement moving towards full diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, and Israel and Bahrain, serves those governments well. The UAE and Bahrain have become only the third and fourth Arab countries to open diplomatic ties with Israel, strengthening shared efforts to weaken both Iran and the Islamist groups which they see as a regional threat. For Israel, normalization with the UAE will markedly expand its exposure to the contemporary Arab world.