Asia Pacific

Donald Trump’s war on Iran has done what imperial wars often do. It has stripped the familiar vocabulary to the bone. The old words are still there, of course. Security. Stability. Deterrence. Order. But they no longer conceal very much. When a president threatens to wreck power plants, …

In this interview, Pradeep S. Mehta, discusses and reviews further a number of questions that emerged during the four-day conference in Cameroon. Delegates attend the World Trade Organisation (WTO) 14th ministerial meeting in Yaounde, Cameroon, March 28, 2026. WTO/Handout via REUTERS The 14th Ministerial Conference of the World …

Hosein Mortada The United States doesn’t just export goods, services, or technology. Its most powerful export—the one that underpins everything else—is the United States dollar. That export is now facing a slow, strategic challenge. This is not a crisis that will unfold overnight, nor one defined by dramatic …

Nikolas K. Gvosdev The “world war” of the 18th century, with its shifting coalitions and proxy fronts, is more akin to the 21st century’s wars than the 20th century’s. At the close of the classic 1990 episode of The Simpsons, “Bart the General,” Bart Simpson solemnly intones that …

Justin Mitchell Both Moscow and Beijing stand to benefit from a prolonged war between the United States and Iran. Iran is isolated, fighting a war for its survival. Yet China and Russia, Iran’s supposed partners, are conspicuously absent. Both countries condemned the attacks on Iran and called for …

Mansoor Ahmad The world witnessed major conflicts in 2025, with one of the most alarming escalations between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, India and Pakistan. If it had not been stopped in time, there was a potential threat of a nuclear war. Donald Trump is taking credit for stopping …

Mohammed Ayoob President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran arose from a severe misunderstanding of US interests in the Middle East. President Donald Trump had long been opposed to US military involvement in wars in the Middle East. He had excoriated previous administrations for their military involvement in …

Dr. Shehab Al-Makahleh There are moments in history when the stage is stripped bare, when the actors—once draped in grandeur—are revealed as mere performers reciting borrowed lines. The current war orbiting Iran, the United States, and Israel is one such moment: a geopolitical drama that would make Niccolò Machiavelli nod …

Lexy Reid 20% of the world’s oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz, a small chokepoint whose use is now being massively disrupted by war, drone strikes and the competing interests of great powers. The current Iran War has transformed the Strait of Hormuz from a potential risk …