Death From Above
Ayman al-Zawahiri’s reign of pious terror is now over.
Brian Stewart
· 6 min read
Foreign Affairs
A collection of 119 posts
Zelensky’s Terrible Dilemma—and Ours
Capitulation or Bloody Resistance?
John Lloyd
· 8 min read
The Road to Genocide
The Uyghurs have the potential to threaten China's national unity, which is the real reason we are seeing the largest incarceration of an ethnic or religious minority since the Holocaust.
Aaron Sarin
· 17 min read
Israel’s Perilous Moment, Then and Now
Herf tells the complicated and often surprising story of the internal political struggles in Western capitals, as well as in the halls of the United Nations, that erupted at the end of the Second World War.
Sol Stern
· 14 min read
Casualties of War
I have been a Russophile for as long as I can remember. Or, to put it more exactly, since I was eight years old, when I attended a school play performance of Gogol’s The Government Inspector. I loved Gogol’s sense of humour, the long names with their patronymics—
Robert Ginzburg
· 13 min read
Can the Revolution in German Foreign Policy Last?
During the fierce debate over the Iraq war, the German political scientist Karl Kaiser said, “Europeans have done something that no one has ever done before: create a zone of peace where war is ruled out, absolutely out.” And, he added, “Europeans are convinced that this model is valid for
Brian Stewart
· 6 min read
Deterrence After Ukraine—A Critical Analysis
On February 24th, Russia invaded Ukraine with the explicit goal of eliminating its existence as an independent country. Why was Russian President Vladimir Putin not deterred by the risk of a response from the West/NATO? This question requires a review of the fundamentals of conventional deterrence, neglected by the
Shmuel Bar
· 23 min read
A Failure of Deterrence
According to foreign policy “realists,” the tale we are being told about Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked war in Ukraine is a fiction. Realists like to be known for their clear-eyed appreciation of the realities of global power, and in their telling, responsibility for the war does not lie chiefly with
Brian Stewart
· 6 min read
Privilege-Checking in a World on Fire
Privilege is a sham mark of opprobrium—those who decry the privilege of others tend to want more of it for themselves. The dissemblance is all the more distasteful given that the detractors of privilege typically possess, comparatively speaking, an abundance of it. One need not be conversant in history
David A. Eisenberg
· 5 min read
Ukraine: On the Fault Line Between East and West
Ukrainian nationalism and its clear expression as part of a larger European identity has burst into the open with the power of a hydrogen bomb.
Michael J. Totten
· 11 min read
Ukraine and the Pro-Putin Right
Reactions to Russia’s war in Ukraine have become a perfect demonstration of the “horseshoe theory,” according to which the extremes of Left and Right must converge. Amid overwhelming international condemnation of Russia and sympathy for the Ukrainians’ courageous resistance, Putin-friendly voices blaming the West, NATO, and particularly the United
Cathy Young
· 12 min read
Remind the Kremlin of Its Weakness
From the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, discussions about the war in the West have been permeated by a dangerous tone of complacency and self-congratulation. The Russian military has indeed been exposed as less than effective, and Ukrainian bravery has resonated among the public worldwide
Dalibor Roháč
· 7 min read
The New Great Game
Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine will be remembered as one of the great crimes of the 21st century. The ensuing humanitarian crisis has already caused more than two million refugees to flee their homeland. With the imposition of sanctions, policymakers will have to weigh their political options as a
Joel Kotkin and Hügo Krüger
· 10 min read
Tocqueville and Ukraine: European Union, Freedom, and Responsibility
As Russia pushed into Ukraine, we learned that Germany was still preparing to ship 5,000 helmets to the besieged European country. The US, meanwhile, had already sent $2.5 billion in military aid there since 2014. The contrast between the wills and capabilities of the US and Europe appeared
Eric Clifford Graf
· 9 min read
Why Ukraine Matters
If Putin succeeds in his aggression in Ukraine and the Republican Party follows Trump in his admiration for what he has done, then it will be making a decisive break with fundamental American democratic values.
Francis Fukuyama
· 5 min read