European officials are whispering nervously about this week’s reports that a pro-Ukraine group, and not Russia, may have been behind the bombing of the Nord Stream pipeline. Should that be proven, it would create an immensely awkward diplomatic headache for Europe, particularly the countries through which the pipeline passes.
Last week, the U.K. reached a new agreement with the European Union aimed at resolving their long-running dispute over trade rules for Northern Ireland under the Brexit divorce deal. But it remains to be seen whether it will be enough to satisfy unionists in Northern Ireland as well as hard-line Brexiteers in London.
Ever since the unveiling of OpenAI’s ChatGPT program, the field of AI has taken center stage in the competition over cutting-edge technology. And its impact on geopolitical contests, particularly in the political and military spheres, has the potential to be just as significant as its impact on business pursuits.
The European Union’s integration has often been driven by crisis. At the same time, not every problem confronting European policymakers has led to further integration. It is only when specific external threats become intertwined with tensions inside the EU that a moment of crisis can present policymakers with an existential choice.
Since taking office last year, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has worked to improve ties with both the U.S. and China, in part by trying to focus their energies on managing North Korea. But pressure is now mounting on Seoul to clarify where it stands in terms of its readiness to help defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack.
Increasingly, diasporas are powerful constituencies in their countries of origin. Despite their physical distance, they influence homeland politics and can also be instrumental in shaping relations between their countries of origin and residence. Yet, home and host government attitudes toward diasporas are decidedly mixed.
Turkey’s general elections, scheduled for May 14, were expected to be fateful events for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling AKP party. But despite speculation that the earthquakes that devastated southern Turkey on Feb. 6 would dent Erdogan’s chances in the polls, recent developments appear to be going in his favor.
The global food system accounts for a whopping 31 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and changing the way we eat is increasingly seen as essential to fighting climate change. So how can governments nudge the transformation of something as big and complex as the global food system in order to reduce its climate impacts?
Sexual assault and violence within the U.S. military has become the focus of heightened attention in recent years, in part due to a series of high-profile cases. But despite recent efforts to address the problem, sexual assault in the military continues to rise, raising a number of issues from the standpoint of civil-military relations.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has largely chosen caution over confrontation in Rome’s foreign policy. But when it comes to Italy’s position on the war in Ukraine, and by extension its bilateral relationship with Russia, her administration’s emphasis on continuity seems to be diverging from domestic public opinion.
El Salvador’s controversial president, Nayib Bukele, has clearly captured Latin America’s imagination. Polls show that his image is quite favorable among the region’s general public, and some politicians are now trying to cash in on his popularity, offering approaches that play off of Bukele’s war against El Salvador’s gangs.
Bola Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos and the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, was announced as the winner of the 2023 Nigerian presidential election. But while his rivals have rejected the result, many Nigerians are hoping Tinubu does a better job in tackling the country’s many challenges.
Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan and her Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, signed a “comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership” between the two countries late last year. But the display of diplomatic pomp at the announcement obscured the complex and often fractious partnership between the two countries.
In January, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists set their “Doomsday Clock” to 90 seconds before midnight, in an assessment of how close the world is to “global catastrophe”—the prospect of nuclear war. Three recent events over the past few weeks have reinforced the idea that the world is entering a dangerous era of nuclear risk.
Lawmakers in Brussels are going through the details of the Windsor Framework deal, a proposed adjustment to the Northern Ireland protocol, announced by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday. The key question they’re asking: Has the European Union compromised too much?
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and a delegation of government officials recently met with their Moroccan counterparts for the first time in eight years, in an effort to mend relations amid tensions over territorial issues and migration. But the timing of the summit was awkward, due to concerns over Morocco’s human rights record.
On Sunday, huge crowds of demonstrators streamed into Mexico City’s main square, marking a startlingly strong rebuke to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The protesters convincingly argue that AMLO’s controversial changes to Mexico’s independent National Electoral Institute, or INE, would undermine the country’s young democracy.