The story of the coronavirus is the story of today’s China
Sometimes a top-down, authoritarian system can simply move more quickly in times of crisis. But that doesn’t necessarily equate with making the right decisions.
Mark Porubcansky has been a foreign correspondent and editor for 30 years, serving until recently as foreign editor of the Los Angeles Times. He now lives in Scandia.
Sometimes a top-down, authoritarian system can simply move more quickly in times of crisis. But that doesn’t necessarily equate with making the right decisions.
Russia faces daunting demographic, economic and human rights problems. And while it has interfered in U.S. elections and engaged in adventures in countries like Ukraine and Syria, in more important ways it is pulling in on itself.
Widespread and increasingly violent protests are becoming a regular feature of life in Iran. And with each round, criticism of the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and the political establishment gets more pointed.
The Trump administration is dealing with its first full-on foreign policy crisis — one that is mostly of the president’s own making.
Johnson is looking like a very clever politician these days.
Kim Jong Un would probably still prefer to see Trump win a second term and continue dealing with a disorganized, distracted and transactional White House.
Despite the fact that he’s widely reviled in the U.K., Trump can’t seem to help putting himself in the middle of it all.
Widespread protests against poor living conditions, corruption and inequality have authorities of both countries worried.
Trump has ordered aides not to testify in the impeachment hearings. He’s going to the Supreme Court to avoid turning over his tax records. The question, as it has been for his entire presidency, is what exactly is he hiding — and does it have anything to do with Russia?
NATO is marking a couple of milestones this year. But for the moment, the alliance is focused on a rhetorical bomb tossed last week by one of Europe’s leading statesmen, French President Emmanuel Macron.
Those looking for common threads focus on perennial issues such as inequality, economic distress, corruption and a lack of democracy. But the answer to “Why now?” is most often clear only in retrospect.
Just days before the raid in which Baghdadi died, Trump announced that the new U.S. mission would be to secure Syria’s oil. He reiterated that on Sunday. In what world does that make sense?
Experts say the Islamic State already had been quietly reconstituting itself in Iraq and Syria, even while under intense military pressure, and that Turkey’s invasion is almost certain to give it a big boost.
What might most distinguish Trump’s decision is not the withdrawal itself, but the typically shambolic way the president went about it.
Foreign powers may already be taking sides.
Impeachment may be the main drama of the coming months, but the rest of the world isn’t going to sit and wait.
The latest scandal isn’t only about Trump. Ukraine has long been a piggy bank for other well-connected Americans.
Developments in Washington have put Israel on its back foot, and one in particular calls into question the value of Netanyahu’s tight relationship with President Trump, with whom he’s chosen to be pictured on his campaign billboards.
There are few good guys in Syria’s Idlib province, at least not with any real power. For those who do have power, the fate of civilians is just one of many issues.
Bored by the endless drama across the pond? An awful lot of Brits are, too.
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— The Editors
By Mark Porubcansky
Sept. 3, 2019