Barack Obama is delivering the Nelson Mandela lecture in a changing world dominated by the often outrageous utterances of his successor, US President Donald Trump.
In the hands of a legitimate president, the recent indictments against Russian nationals for interfering in the 2016 presidential election would have been a powerful tool at a summit. Not Donald Trump.
The leader of the United States has made immigrants the new face of a threatening “Other,” a primitive savage who has many of the features of the “Indians” of the American frontier myth.
The British foreign secretary, Francis Osborne, tried to negotiate free trade deals with eight European rivals in the late 18th century. Guess how many bit the dust.
Donald Trump’s coziness with Vladimir Putin and his antagonism toward Europe is making the Russian leader look good to his countrymen and former adversaries across Europe. And Trump is looking bad.
Americans have rediscovered the Supreme Court, as they do periodically when it’s at the center of controversy. With a president who attacks the legitimacy of courts, will their attention be benign?
NATO leaders meet in Belgium today; many are worried about US President Trump’s habit of breaking diplomatic norms. History is filled with other leaders acting bullishly, often with poor results.
Professor in U.S. Politics and U.S. Foreign Relations at the United States Studies Centre and in the Discipline of Government and International Relations, University of Sydney