Negotiations between Western democracies and Russia over the fate of Ukraine took place against a backdrop of Russia troops entering Kazakhstan. It’s a reminder that Russia is willing to play tough.
Violence in Ethiopia could cause ripples across the Horn of Africa, destabilizing the region.
French President Emmanuel Macron talks to U.S. President Joe Biden at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquarters in Brussels on June 14, 2021.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Despite a ‘major breach of trust,’ the recent spat between France and the US corresponds to a long cycle of conflict and rapprochement between the two countries.
The US ambassador to the USSR, George Kennan, chats with a reporter in 1952 after the Soviets told the US State Department that Kennan must be recalled immediately.
Bettmann/contributor/Getty Images
Stephen Hoadley, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Kennan was one of America’s few true experts on Soviet affairs. He famously urged a “Containment” strategy to prevent Soviet expansionism, advising against military responses and arms build-ups.
After 20 years in Afghanistan and many promises made, the U.S. does hold responsibility for Afghans’ fate, including their human right to access education.
The people of Afghanistan that the author encountered live very different lives from Americans.
Brian Glyn Williams
As American troops leave Afghanistan, a scholar of the country’s history and culture reexamines his photos of the nation’s people.
Helping women is an explicit goal of the Biden administration’s pandemic relief plan. Does the gender focus extend to the world?
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Gender equality doesn’t top any country’s international agenda – yet. But ever more countries, including the US, are starting to discern that women’s rights really are human rights.
A demonstrator dressed as Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with blood on his hands protests outside the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 8, 2018.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
Jeffrey Fields, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Saudi’s crown prince approved the killing and dismemberment of a Washington Post columnist in 2018, the Biden administration says. So how can the US still see the Saudis as good partners?
Still no justice for Jamal Khashoggi.
EPA-EFE/Tolga Bozoglu
Biden wants to restore US global leadership after four years of Trump’s isolationism and antagonism. These are some of the challenges and opportunities he’ll face, from China to Latin America.
Then and now: how the outside world has watched American politics over the past four years.
Der Spiegel
Biden’s inaugural speech focused mainly on healing domestic rifts and a new kind of politics at home. But he also signalled a return to engagement with the outside world.
Flexing new muscles: the head of Iran’s revolutionary guard, Hossein Salami, at inauguration of a new missile installation in the Persian Gulf.
SEPAHNEWS HANDOUT
America’s hardline policy towards Iran has failed. The incoming US president has an opportunity to change course.
As vice president, Joe Biden – seen here on left, in 2016 – had a working relationship with the Republican Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell. Is that possible now?
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
A survey of 800 foreign policy experts identified four international issues where Republicans and Democrats may actually cooperate to get something done – and one area of severe disagreement.
Afghan security forces gather near the site of an attack in Jalalabad in August 2020.
AP Photo/Rahmat Gul