Column Archive

One of the effects of the Western military drawdown from Afghanistan has been to strengthen Russian-Indian security ties. Whereas New Delhi has tried in recent years to diversity its defense relationships, including by seeking out better ties with the United States, the need to prevent the pro-Pakistani Taliban from returning to power in Afghanistan has given a second wind to its security alignment with Moscow. Until now, their mutual engagement regarding Afghanistan was mostly diplomatic. But media reports have now emerged of a new arms-transfer arrangement in which India will buy weapons from Russia for delivery to the Afghan military […]

With six months until the U.S. midterm elections, it’s time for planning, panic or musing, depending on where you sit, about how they will affect U.S. foreign policy. Democratic Party bravado about retaking the House of Representatives is gone. Instead, the topical question has now become, Will the GOP take back the Senate, and if so, then what? On domestic policy, the “Then what?” question has been framed as an either-or: Will GOP senators, especially the presidential hopefuls among them, want to run in 2016 on achievements, which, for immigration or tax reform, require cooperation with the White House? Or […]

President Barack Obama’s delayed visit to East Asia—finally carried out this month after domestic politics forced him to skip key summits last fall—was supposed to highlight America’s seriousness about rebalancing its foreign policy attention to the Asia-Pacific region. Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, spoiled the narrative, as the ongoing crisis in Ukraine continues to suck up most of the oxygen of the U.S. foreign policy process. Unlike earlier Obama peregrinations overseas, this trip did not generate blockbuster headlines or do much to burnish U.S. global leadership. Some pundits are already writing off the entire “pivot” to Asia as a failed […]

Over decades of authoritarian rule in Egypt, and into the recent years of upheaval, one segment of the state enjoyed a reputation for maintaining a considerable degree of independence. In contrast to much of the governing structure, the Egyptian judiciary was willing to challenge the powerful. Its decisions were guided to a large extent by the concept of rule of law. All that is now a thing of the past. On Monday, an Egyptian judge in the governorate of Minya sentenced to death 680 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, including the group’s top leader. It was a jaw-dropping verdict, reached […]