Many wealthy Chinese cherish the elegance and artistry of rosewood (hongmu) furniture. Famous for its rich burgundy color, its intricate Ming and Qing dynasty-style carvings, and its shockingly high price tag—a single bed can fetch $1 million—hongmu is distinctly Chinese.
Beijing is gradually linking South America together with its massive investments in infrastructure—right under Washington’s nose.
Just a few months ago, U.S.-India relations were on an upswing. But that was then, and this is now. Ties between Washington and New Delhi have deteriorated dramatically since, for both political and economic reasons.
In Russia’s view, the Western world has a big problem: It doesn’t like Russians. The reason, in the Kremlin’s telling, is not Russia’s devastation of Ukraine or its nuclear threats. Instead, the culprit is “the propaganda of Russophobia, unleashed by the West.”
Iran’s political opposition is in no position to challenge the regime. That doesn’t mean popular dissent has gone away.
When the international community descends on Manhattan next month for the annual session of the United Nations General Assembly, one issue will loom exceedingly large on the collective agenda: the intention of France, Britain and Canada to imminently recognize Palestine as a state, absent significant changes in Israeli policy.
Ahead of last week's summit in Alaska between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, many feared the meeting would result in some sort of grand bargain that abandoned Ukraine to the Kremlin's predations. That, however, didn't happen.
Since this summer’s humiliating Twelve-Day War, Iran’s regime has shown no signs of collapse.
A new analysis reveals a critical vulnerability in Russia’s war machine: its heavy reliance on imported cotton byproducts to manufacture gunpowder and explosives.A new analysis reveals a critical vulnerability in Russia’s war machine: its heavy reliance on imported cotton byproducts to manufacture gunpowder and explosives.
Russia has a dirty little secret. It faces a dire – perhaps even a fatal – population problem.
“We need an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and massive humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza,” French leader Emmanuel Macron declared in announcing that France will recognize a Palestinian state next month—an announcement that British prime minister Keir Starmer and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney quickly echoed.
In over six months after disputed parliamentary elections, Georgia’s democracy is on life support. The ruling Georgian Dream party is moving towards full authoritarianism at breakneck speed, passing a battery of laws that threaten the very existence of independent civil society. Party leaders regularly threaten to go even further and institute an outright ban on much of the opposition.
With the return of the Trump administration, the concept of great power competition has seen something of a renaissance.
“We need an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and massive humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza,” French leader Emmanuel Macron declared in announcing that France will recognize a Palestinian state next month—an announcement that British prime minister Keir Starmer and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney quickly echoed.
In an era of shifting global power dynamics, Central Asia is becoming a more unified region through emerging diplomatic, economic, and cultural ties. Uzbekistan is prioritizing these efforts within its foreign policy, believing cooperation will be Central Asia’s opportunity to accelerate regional development. Central Asia must also take advantage of its integration efforts to form cultural ties among its regional peoples. While Uzbekistan hopes to emulate international multilateral economic and diplomatic organizations, such as the early European Coal and Steel Community, within Central Asian frameworks, Uzbekistan also supports a policy of engagement towards Afghanistan. Instead of sanctioning and excluding Afghanistan, Uzbekistan hopes to integrate it into the Central Asian community and leverage economic interconnectivity for stability.
The inconsistency of US foreign policy in the Wider Middle East and Greater Central Asia is stark. Over the last three decades, American priorities have cycled erratically between supporting state sovereignty, promoting democracy and state-building, and disengagement, before reverting to re-engagement. Such unpredictable shifts only confuse allies and embolden adversaries.
With Iran facing the threat of global “snapback sanctions” this Fall over its nuclear program, the United States and its European allies have a golden opportunity to coordinate a campaign of military and economic pressure against a regime that seems increasingly concerned about its grip on power at home.
The creator economy has moved beyond niche marketing – it’s now central to how brands build trust and grow. It’s a $250 billion global force reshaping how brands build loyalty, drive engagement and grow their businesses.
Since the summer of 2019, Georgia has cycled through periods of crisis and partial recovery, with the increasingly kleptocratic and authoritarian Georgian Dream (GD) government developing sophisticated methods to control public discourse and opinion. The fundamental question that Western policymakers can no longer avoid is: What is more important—a democratic Georgia or a cooperative, friendly Georgia? For years, these aspirations were aligned, but today they have diverged into mutually exclusive policy pathways, each carrying profound implications for regional stability and the credibility of Western engagement.
Any pivot to Asia must prioritize a comprehensive strategy for Greater Central Asia, yet the U.S. has offered no coherent regional strategy to date. Greater Central Asia is the connective tissue bridging Europe to Asia through energy, trade, transport, and resources, a cornucopia of commercial opportunities. The region figures prominently in the strategies of U.S. adversaries for securing competitive advantage against American interests. Ignoring Greater Central Asia thus exposes the U.S. to lost opportunities and unwanted strategic surprises.
The events of the past week in Suweyda, southern Syria, have shed new light on Israel’s emerging strategy toward its northern neighbor.
With the shutdown of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Russia is preparing to copy the agency’s model, positioning the Kremlin to reap gratitude from nations now getting less aid from the United States.
The campaign carried out by Israel last month against Iran’s nuclear program was, by all indications, a spectacular feat of military prowess and strategic planning. But the role played by the United States cannot be overstated. America’s involvement dramatically augmented the damage done to key Iranian facilities, like Fordow—damage that it would have been difficult and potentially costly for Israel to inflict on its own.
Russia is not all that concerned about the humiliation of Iran despite its strategic partnership.
Although overshadowed by the war in Iran, the ongoing conflict in Gaza, and a seemingly perpetual struggle between Russia and Ukraine, last month saw an end to at least one global hotspot. On June 27th, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) signed a peace deal designed and brokered by Washington. The objective? Ending the violence that has surged in Central Africa since Rwandan-backed rebels took two major cities in the DRC earlier this year.
What a difference a year can make.
Last summer, Iran appeared to be well and truly on the march. Its chief Palestinian proxy, Hamas, had succeeded in bogging Israel down in a costly ground war in Gaza – and turning global public opinion against the Jewish state in the process. The United States, under the Biden administration, didn't appear to have much of an answer to Iran's persistent pursuit of nuclear status, or to the growing regional threat posed by its other proxies, like Yemen's Houthi rebels. And vulnerable Gulf states, acutely aware of this dynamic, were increasingly seeking some sort of accommodation with Tehran. As a result, the Iranian leadership's strategic ambitions had begun to expand dramatically.
When President Trump returned to the Oval Office earlier this year, he confidently proclaimed that he could broker an immediate end to the Russia-Ukraine war. But the White House has gotten a better sense of the potential for meaningful compromise in the months since, and revised its expectations down — way down.
Last month's conflict between Israel and Iran has only just concluded, but its results are already being felt throughout the Middle East—and beyond.
Israel has begun a little-noticed foreign policy transformation. Against the backdrop of its ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem has launched a new initiative in strategic communications.
Trump faces a pivotal moment: Capitalize on Iran’s unprecedented weakness by supporting Israel, avoiding overreach, and building bipartisan backing, or risk squandering a rare strategic advantage.
Over the past several days, all eyes have been on the Middle East. Last week, Israel initiated "Operation Rising Lion," its unilateral military campaign to roll back Iran's nuclear program. The effort marks the end of a quarter-century during which Israeli policymakers desperately urged Western governments to take the threat of the Iranian atomic effort more seriously – and to take concrete steps to mitigate it.
It is not too early to start thinking about monuments to those personages associated with Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Not all that long ago, warnings about a creeping Islamist infiltration in Europe were widely ridiculed as conspiracy theories or, worse, "Islamophobia." In previous years, when politicians like Geert Wilders of the Netherlands and Britain's Michael Gove, or authors like France's Michel Houellebecq raised alarms about the growing prevalence of political Islam on the Continent, they were routinely dismissed as cranks, alarmists, or simply as racists.
These days, though, such concerns are getting harder to refute. Just ask the French.
With the State Department’s new vows to halt visa interviews for all foreign students until it beefs up its social media screening and to “aggressively revoke” the visas of Chinese students, the United States is heading down a precarious path. By doing so, it risks ceding its longstanding global advantages in terms of “soft power.”
Israeli leaders must be suffering whiplash as they watch the dizzying events of recent days across the Middle East, with President Donald Trump sidelining the Jewish state and cozying up to some of its bitter rivals.
As President Trump explores a nuclear deal with Iran, he would be wise to recognize that Tehran probably comes to the negotiating table less because it fears Washington than because it smells opportunity.
In recent days several Russian bloggers—both loyalists and oppositionists—have hinted about plots to remove Putin. Even though most such reports are based on little more than gossip, they serve the useful function of reminding us that Putin’s clock is running down.
As every tourist who has strayed into a bazaar or souk knows, Middle Easterners drive a hard bargain. And the Iranians, with their long history of strategy and commerce, are among the region's most savvy negotiators. President Trump's pointman for the region, Steve Witkoff, is finding this out the hard way.
America needs to design and implement an effective strategy for Greater Central Asia to enhance the United States's competitive position in a region that will affect the Russia-China relationship, the geopolitical competition in Asia, and key resource markets, particularly uranium, oil, and natural gas.
Kadyrov's Chechnya presents a deepening dilemma for Russia's federal state. Putin relies on Kadyrov for stability in exchange for unprecedented autonomy—a system where "personalized loyalty substitutes for institutional coherence." This arrangement has created a parallel power structure where Kadyrov implements religious legal codes, commands his independent Kadyrovtsy militia, and pursues contradictory foreign policies.
The paradox is clear: Moscow's strategy to suppress separatism has created a regional actor whose "loyalty is conditional and whose power increasingly transcends the bounds of federation." This precedent could inspire other republics like Tatarstan and Bashkortostan to seek similar arrangements. With Russia facing pressure from sanctions and war costs, Moscow's options are limited if Kadyrov's loyalty wavers.
Trump’s tariff agenda is not simply a policy preference; it is essential for the security and safety of the United States in the decades to come.
If its imperial vision isn’t decisively defeated, any peace agreement with Russia over Ukraine is guaranteed to be merely temporary.
Once upon a time, the Middle Eastern media environment was predictable and staid, dominated by a few prominent outlets that in Arab countries were often owned and operated by the governments’ information ministries. No longer.
“Who controls the Rimland rules Eurasia [and] who rules Eurasia controls the destinies of the world.”
UN’s Human Rights Council set to mock itself – The United Nations Human Rights Council is expected to reappoint its special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, to a second three-year term on Friday, mocking its own mandate to fairly and seriously investigate human rights problems around the world.
On March 20, Iranians in Iran and in the diaspora commemorated Nowruz, the Persian New Year. Typically, U.S. administrations have used the occasion to practice some soft power diplomacy. In the past, America's Nowruz greetings have taken pains to highlight Iran's proud pre-Islamic heritage, underscore its immense civilizational potential, and draw a distinction between the country's historic greatness and its current repressive clerical regime.
Now, as Hamas retakes control of Gaza after a two-month ceasefire with Israel and reconstitutes its capacity to resume its terror, classified documents published in recent days by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center highlight Israel’s desperate need to restore a sense of deterrence in the minds of its bitterest enemies.