Remembering the miracle of 1989
This month marks 30 years since Europe—and human civilisation generally—began to undergo a miraculous transformation that is now etched in the world’s memory. By the summer of 1989, the Soviet Union was already in terminal decline.
5y ago
Towards a new global charter
In August 1941, even before the United States had entered World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and US President Franklin D Roosevelt met secretly off the coast of Newfoundland to discuss how the world could be organised after the war.
5y ago
Showdown in Munich
It was at the 2007 Munich Security Conference that Russian President Vladimir Putin first signalled a cooling of Russian-Western relations.
5y ago
Navigating the Syrian endgame
After a suspiciously sudden conversion, Russian President Vladimir Putin now claims to be worried about the fate of millions of refugees who have fled the carnage in Syria.
6y ago
The End of NATO?
What is left of NATO and the transatlantic order after US President Donald Trump's tumultuous week in Brussels, the United Kingdom, and Helsinki, where he defended Russian President Vladimir Putin against accusations of cyber warfare by America's own intelligence agencies?
6y ago
The West's Crisis of Confidence
In an age defined by US President Donald Trump's rage, Russian President Vladimir Putin's revisionism, and Chinese President Xi Jinping's unbridled ambition, the international order is becoming increasingly disorderly, dysfunctional, and even dangerous. How did we arrive at this state of affairs? And how can we leave it behind?
6y ago
Securing the digital transition
Every year, the World Economic Forum publishes a Global Risks Report, which distills the views of experts and policymakers from around the world.
6y ago
The Pandora's box of the digital age
Is the world sliding dangerously toward cyber Armageddon? Let us hope not; but let us also apprehend the threat, and focus on what to do about it.
6y ago
September 24, 2017
Redefining Europe, and Europeans
Travelling through Germany in the run-up to its federal election on September 24, one cannot help but be struck by the lingering signs of profound trauma from the 2015 refugee crisis.
August 19, 2017
The wrong way to prevent nuclear war
A vast majority of countries want to eliminate the existential threat of nuclear catastrophe, and rightly so. But achieving a world free of nuclear weapons is easier said than done, and there is a risk that some attempts to do so could prove self-defeating.
July 22, 2017
Turkey's year of turmoil
It has been one year since the failed coup in Turkey, and questions about the country's future still abound.
June 20, 2017
Urbanisation 2.0
One thing we do know is that the future will be shaped by two key trends: digitisation and urbanisation. And the possibilities introduced by the former will likely help us overcome the problems associated with the latter.
May 19, 2017
Brexit or Breakup?
I sincerely hope that a brutal exit in the spring of 2019 can be avoided, and that the “deep and special partnership” that the UK talks about will materialise by, say, the spring of 2021.
February 19, 2017
Restoring faith in globalisation
I must confess that I am a firm believer in the benefits of globalisation. To my mind, the gradual interlinking of regions, countries, and people is the most profoundly positive development of our time.
November 11, 2016
Global Stability in the Trump Era
Angry American voters who feel slighted by the Washington establishment have had their say. A stunned world must now come to terms with what the election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States means for global stability in the years ahead.
August 16, 2016
Taking Turkey seriously
Istanbul, in western Turkey, is one of Europe's great cities. As Constantinople, it was the capital of the Roman and Byzantine Empires, and after its capture and renaming by Mehmed II in 1453, it served as the capital of the Ottoman Empire for nearly another 500 years.
May 28, 2016
How the West was lost
If Obama can ensure the ratification of the TPP and bring the TTIP negotiations to a conclusion, he will have laid the groundwork for future progress. If he falls short on either task – or, catastrophically, fails on both – the world will face a far more uncertain future.
April 29, 2016
The Fourth Jihadist Wave
Muscular language has become increasingly prevalent in the debate about how to counter the threat of jihadist terrorism. Television
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