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.
The familiar distinction between hard and soft power, which seemed a useful way to simplify the multidimensional dynamics of interstate influence in the century gone by, seems hopelessly insufficient to describe what is happening in the one we are in now.
The familiar distinction between hard and soft power, which seemed a useful way to simplify the multidimensional dynamics of interstate influence in the century gone by, seems hopelessly insufficient to describe what is happening in the one we are in now.