Atlanticists on both side of the pond have used the current standoff with Russia over Ukraine to reassert the centrality of NATO and of the transatlantic partnership. Continued interest in a united and purposeful West is a good thing, but the conceptual basis of the transatlantic relationship is outdated and in urgent need of overhaul....Read More

It has been over a week since Egypt’s first democratically elected president was ousted by the Egyptian army after mass protests. But violence has already erupted between the followers of Mohamed Morsi and his opponents, the army and security forces, leading many commentators to speculate that Egypt is heading for civil war. The broader implications...Read More

The most important result of Osama bin Laden’s death is likely to be a new US approach to Afghanistan. President Obama is now essentially in a position to “declare victory and get out”, without risking too much in terms of US public and military opinion. Unfortunately, everything I know of the Pashtun areas of Afghanistan...Read More

In his recent visit to the US, China’s President Hu Jintao was treated to an extravagant state banquet at the White House, an honour usually reserved for America’s closest friends and strategic partners and something denied to him in 2006. And the overall tone adopted by the leaders of the world’s two preeminent economic powers...Read More

U.S. strategy toward Pakistan is focused on trying to get Islamabad to give serious help to Washington’s campaign against the Afghan Taliban. There are two rather large problems with this approach. The first is that it is never going to happen. As U.S. diplomats in Pakistan themselves recognize (and as was made ever so clear...Read More

The domino effect triggered by the events in Tunisia and Egypt heralds a new era of Middle Eastern politics with potentially wide-ranging implications for regional, if not global peace and stability. But who will fill the void left by the autocrats? The most likely prospect will be a coming to power, sooner or later, of...Read More

Fifty-five years ago, the United States thwarted an effort by the British, French and Israelis to secure the Suez Canal and topple an Egyptian dictator. So here we are once more, face to face with the great dilemma in American foreign policy. People seek change and an end to undemocratic rule. The leadership, desperate to...Read More

In the wake of the global financial crisis a new international order is coming to the fore, writes Chris Luenen. What we are witnessing today are the birth pangs of a world of three regional monetary and trading blocs. The realisation is slowly setting in that once the global crisis has abated, globalisation, as we...Read More

Last Friday’s revelations about India’s use of torture in Kashmir are the latest in a disturbingly long line of stories that undermine attempts to portray India’s rise in the international system as a force for the global good. Following a period of transition that has seen a move away from Cold War non-alignment and a...Read More

Last month, Horst Köhler resigned as German president following a public outcry over comments he made in an interview that were widely understood as justifying war for economic reasons. Although it is clear that for someone in Köhler’s position to make the remarks he made is politically unsavvy, the disproportionate public anger his statement provoked...Read More