Israel attacked Iran to stop the salami tactics. Now Tehran and Moscow will choose to raise the stakes or to bargain. The uncertainty about China. Israel attacked Tehran’s Ayatollahs to stop the salami tactics of an unwinnable proxy war with Hamas in Gaza, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and the Yemenite Houthis, while Iran was completing its nuclear […]
The situation is explosive, but Trump has a way out—do nothing, wu wei. It’s easier than pushing for something that grows harder by the day. An unstable mix of long- and short-term pulls is stoking tensions and bringing everyone closer to an unpredictable blast. Short-term US hesitation and zig-zags put many countries close to the […]
Democracy is not perfect. It has flaws that were apparent to the ancient Greeks and that modernity has attempted to rectify. Present challenges may require those fixes again. Democracy was born with an existential flaw, as the Hellenist Luciano Canfora warns. The rabble (perhaps a more accurate translation of the ancient Greek demos than “the people”) elects its leader. […]
The United States may want to drive a wedge between Russia and China, but lack of coordination is opening fissures with its allies. Thus, the US might achieve little or no results while Moscow gains much more political space. While US President Donald Trump is talking to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, he’s also engaging […]
The outline of a long, different Cold War is looming clearer. Europe is ready for rearmament, while Italy must choose between a real defense or becoming the Belorussia of the Mediterranean It’s just days away from a proposal for the long-awaited ceasefire in Ukraine; two months ago, a truce was reached in Gaza, and since […]
Diplomacy is in full gear, seeking a pause to wars and tussles. Russia and China may not trust the US, but all may need a truce; it might be fragile. Beijing is trying to get out of a corner. In the game of friendship and suspicion among the grand capitals of the Eurasian landmass—Moscow, Beijing, […]
Perhaps the US is looking at things from the wrong angle. Why save Moscow from a self-destructive fight? As a percentage of GDP, the war is far more costly for Russia than for the US or the EU. The US may seek peace in Ukraine to save resources, convince Russia to break with Beijing, focus […]
