Commentary archive

  • Portrait of Simon Chesterman

    US Intelligence, Inc.

    SINGAPORE – Among the stories and rumors prompted by Edward J. Snowden’s leaking of classified material – whistleblowing or treason, dependi…

  • Portrait of Mehdi Khalaji

    The Rowhani Front

    WASHINGTON, DC – On June 17, at his first press conference as Iran’s President-elect, Hassan Rowhani broke little new ground in the Islamic …

  • Portrait of Tony Blair

    The Trouble Within Islam

    LONDON – There is only one view of the murder of the British soldier Lee Rigby on a south London street three weeks ago: horrific.But there …

  • Portrait of Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan

    Why Turkey is Rebelling

    ISTANBUL – Turkey’s economy has been booming for a decade, earning praise not only from financial markets, but also from development economi…

  • Portrait of Antonio de Aguiar Patriota

    Globalizing the Security Council

    BRASILIA – The 1945 United Nations Charter represented a historic breakthrough in the pursuit of peace on a multilateral basis. At the end o…

  • Portrait of Kishore Mahbubani

    America’s Blinders

    SINGAPORE – The time has come to think the unthinkable: the era of American dominance in international affairs may well be coming to an end.…

  • Portrait of Mehdi Khalaji

    After Ahmadinejad

    WASHINGTON, DC – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s preferred successor, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, will not be running in the June 14 ele…

  • Portrait of Bernard Haykel

    Syria’s Sectarian Stalemate

    PRINCETON – What began in Syria as a revolt against an oppressive regime has evolved into a sectarian civil war and, more recently, into a p…

  • Portrait of Tamara Wittes

    The Egypt-Israel Peace Test

    WASHINGTON, DC – The rocket strikes that a militant Islamist group recently fired from the Egyptian Sinai into the Israeli city of Eilat ser…

  • Portrait of Volker Perthes

    The Changing Map of Middle East Power

    BERLIN – The eruption of the Arab revolts in late 2010 and early 2011 put power relations among Middle Eastern countries in a state of flux,…

  • Portrait of Shahid Javed Burki

    Pakistan’s Tipping Point

    LAHORE – Pakistan’s moment of political truth is fast approaching. On May 11, some 40-50 million voters will elect a new national assembly. …

  • Portrait of Ribal al-Assad

    Syria’s Hijacked Struggle

    LONDON – As Syria’s civil war has progressed, the West’s views on arming the opposition have become increasingly confused, which reflects th…

  • Portrait of Bennett Ramberg

    Syria’s Chemical Genie

    LOS ANGELES – Since Syria’s civil war erupted, its large chemical-weapons arsenal has haunted the conflict zone and beyond. Now Israel says …

  • Portrait of Sinan Ulgen

    Erdoğan’s Kurdish Gambit

    ISTANBUL – Conflict in the Middle East threatens not only the security of many of its states, but also their continued existence. Syria, Ira…

  • Portrait of Zhu Feng

    North Korea’s Step Too Far?

    BEIJING – After nearly a month of belligerent bluster from North Korea, China appears to have had enough, ending its silence about North Kor…

  • Portrait of Yuliya Tymoshenko

    The Iron Lady as Liberator

    KHARKIV, UKRAINE – Prison is always a place of mourning. But perhaps learning of Margaret Thatcher’s death in this place is grimly appropria…

  • Portrait of Robert J. Barro

    Popes, Saints, and Religious Competition

    CAMBRIDGE – The election of the first non-European pope is long overdue. After all, Pope Francis’s native region, Latin America, is currentl…

  • Portrait of Yoon Young-kwan

    Realism on North Korea

    BERLIN – The world’s task in addressing North Korea’s saber rattling is made no easier by the fact that it confronts an impoverished and eff…

  • Portrait of Richard Weitz

    Nuclear Disarmament’s Asian Pivot

    WASHINGTON, DC – In 2009, US President Barack Obama pledged to seek a world without nuclear weapons. But, while he delivered on his promise …

  • Portrait of Sanjaya Baru

    India’s Five Thoughts on China

    NEW DELHI – There is something about the number five in Sino-Indian relations. Asia’s two giants have long defined their relationship in ter…

  • Portrait of Ayad Allawi

    Iraqi Hope Dies Last

    BAGHDAD – Ten years have passed since Saddam Hussein was removed from power, following more than three decades of tyrannical rule. The dream…

  • Portrait of Sergei Karaganov

    Xi in Russia

    MOSCOW – The atmospherics surrounding Xi Jinping’s coming trip to Russia – his first visit to a foreign country as China’s new president – r…

  • Portrait of Diana Pinto

    Obama in Israel’s New World

    PARIS – Now that Binyamin Netanyahu has formed a new Israeli government out of a dizzying kaleidoscope of possible post-election permutation…

  • Portrait of Shinichi Nakayama

    Fukushima’s Future

    TOKYO – Two years have passed since the Fukushima nuclear accident, and international interest in its impact is beginning to wane. But that …

  • Portrait of Sergei Karaganov

    Fatal Thaws

    MOSCOW – During the Cold War, the Soviet Union and, in a milder way, the United States imposed external limits on the activities of states a…

48 pages