World Affairs
The Hard Left and Populist Right Agree on All the Wrong Things
The ideas that unite the hard Left and the populist Right against the West itself are the same ones that make them both so excited about the culture wars.
Ukrainians Are Nobody’s Pawns
Conservative anti-interventionists buy into an authoritarian narrative that ignores the clear choices made by the people of Ukraine.
Corrupter of the World
The depth and breadth of corruption in countries, leaders, and peoples has gained more and more public attention in recent years, another torment to add to those already disturbing the peace of the socially aware. It is tormenting because—like the warming of the globe, the advance of authoritarianism, and
The Pathologies of Imperialism
An earlier version of this article appeared in the German language newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung on March 4th, 2022. February 24th, 2022, constituted a shock to the European psyche. The invasion of Ukraine, without any plausible casus belli, the massive use of military force against civilians, the attempted hunting down
Tibet’s Long Fight for Freedom
In the eyes of Tibetan Buddhists, Tenzin Gyatso is the flesh-and-blood reincarnation of Avalokiteśvara, the thousand-armed bodhisattva of compassion. In the eyes of the Chinese Communist Party, he is “a wolf in monk’s clothing, a devil with a human face but the heart of a beast.” Tibet’s 14th
From Playboy Sports Star to Islamist Politician: The Strange Turn of Imran Khan
The values trajectory of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is scarcely believable. Born into a well-to-do family in the new country of Pakistan, five years after the independence and partition of India, Khan received a prestigious education at the elite Aitchison College in Lahore and then at Oxford University. Like
Time for Less Long-Term Thinking About China
Today, an old friend and former colleague of mine, the Canadian diplomat and political analyst Michael Kovrig, will mark a horrifying milestone: 1,000 days in detention in a Beijing jail, held as a human bargaining chip. With the conviction last month on spurious espionage charges of another Canadian detained
America the Indispensable
God has a special providence for fools, drunkards, and the United States of America. ~Otto von Bismarck Post-millennium America does not look good at a glance. The country has struggled with the pandemic and with deepening divisions over race, class, inequality, and culture. It is in the humiliating process of
