Asia Pacific

The current crisis shows that Europe must transition to renewables to reduce its dependency on volatile fossil fuels. This week’s AccelerateEU plan rightly reaffirms that goal. The global energy crisis caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has demonstrated the vulnerability of relying on fossil fuels. …

Winthrop M. Rodgers The stalemate over government formation is affecting the semi-autonomous region’s ability to deal with the fallout of the Iran war – and eroding its autonomy. More than 18 months have passed since voters in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq went to the polls in …

Dr. Shehab Al-Makahleh A President Between Two Fears Power, when stripped of clarity, becomes performance. This is the paradox defining the current posture of Donald Trumptoward Iran: a leader who refuses both escalation and withdrawal, yet insists on projecting strength. According to converging assessments—including reporting echoed by The Wall Street Journal and …

Dr. Shehab Al-Makahleh The Collapse of the Illusion: When Empires Whisper “You’re On Your Own” History rarely announces its turning points with fanfare; it prefers irony. The return of Donald Trump to the White House did not begin a new era—it exposed the fragility of the old one. For decades, …

Filippo Buffa Every few years, the same obituary is written again. America is finished, we are told. It has lost its nerve, exhausted itself in the Middle East, divided itself at home, and opened the door to a Chinese century. It is a powerful story, and like many …

In the quiet coastal waters of the Taiwan Strait last week, a Japanese destroyer, the JS Ikazuchi, performed a maneuver that was less about navigation and more about necro-politics. For fourteen grueling hours, the vessel lingered in the sensitive waterway, timed precisely to coincide with the anniversary of …

There is something telling about a smile in Washington. Not the ceremonial kind that accompanies routine diplomacy, but the carefully staged image of acceptance—the kind that signals a transaction already agreed upon behind closed doors. Reports of meetings between associates of Ahmed al-Sharaa and members of the United States Congress suggest more …

Thomas Cavanna After 16 years in power, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán suffered a massive defeat in Hungary’s April 12 parliamentary election. Many observers have described the outcome as a stern ideological rebuke of the Trump administration, which lobbied heavily in Orbán’s favor, and have argued that Orbán’s defeat …

Hridoy Sarkar America has engaged in yet another war in the Middle East through Operation Epic Fury, which began with the airstrikes on Iran on February 28 of this year. After the uncomfortable experiences of Iraq and Afghanistan, America tried to extricate itself from the Middle East and …