Kerry Boyd Anderson After his inauguration in January, President Joe Biden sought to undo much of former President Donald Trump’s foreign policy. His administration has had some success in that goal, while also facing hurdles. Biden has also sought to reframe geopolitics through a lens of democracies and autocracies — partly in response to China’s […]
Read MoreAs the year comes to a close, the global community faces several daunting challenges beyond an unremitting pandemic now past its second anniversary. North Africa roils from political turmoil and fracturing societies, with exasperated populations distraught at the intransigence of ruling elites but chastened by the fear of uprisings going awry, inviting entities less inclined […]
Read MoreDing Gang A recent eye-catching report in the US media said Shawmut, a US construction management firm, has launched a new N95 mask. The advertisement for this mask is even more concise: “Our N95 mask is made in the USA.” Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the US has imported a large number of […]
Read MoreHu Xijin The German Navy frigate Bayern started to cross the South China Sea on Wednesday with the hype of Western media outlets, emphasizing that this is the first time a German warship has entered the South China Sea in the past 20 years, which was planned to express opposition to China’s territorial claims. Again, […]
Read MoreDalia Al-Aqidi Democratic members of the US House of Representatives passed legislation last week to create a special envoy to combat Islamophobia worldwide. The bill was sponsored by Muslim Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, and her Jewish colleague Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a Democrat from Illinois. At first glance, the creation of this position […]
Read MoreMichael Rothman The short answer to the above question is “no.” In point of fact, an assessment of the underlying supply and demand fundamentals suggests that we are in a multiyear up-cycle for the oil market. At the center of this analysis stand two critical data considerations with the first being the stickiness of petroleum […]
Read MoreHu Xijin After reading the notification from China’s Central Economic Work Conference, I am more confident in the country’s economic situation. 2021 has been a difficult year for the entire world. The resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic has to some extent impaired all major economies’ recovery plan. But China has undoubtedly done the best, especially […]
Read MoreDing Gang Washington is in a hurry of late. It has to contain China’s high-tech development on the one hand and is anxious to collect some so-called democratic countries to establish a “democratic front” against China on the other hand. It appears that the China policy of the Biden administration is not much different from […]
Read MoreIshtiaq Ahmad Through last week’s Summit for Democracy, President Joe Biden apparently sought to unite the world to rescue democracy, which is facing a critical crisis. Instead, the online event has set the world apart, with charges that its real intent was to contain China’s rise and seek US hegemony. By excluding almost half of […]
Read MoreYossi Mekelberg Desperate times call for desperate measures; the trick is to ensure that the side effects of the measures taken do not worsen the original predicament. There is now a strong sense of understandable desperation among societies and governments in their wish to see off COVID-19, to the extent that the idea of compulsory […]
Read MoreMartin Jacques There is something more than a little ironic about President Biden’s Summit for Democracy this week. The intention is blindingly obvious: to rally the troops in favour of Western-style democracy and draw a line in the sand between “democracy” (ie, the West) and “autocracy” (ie, China and Russia). In this Biden faces two […]
Read MoreHu Xijin I saw that some people are not confident about China’s holding high the banner of whole-process people’s democracy, but still believe US democracy is the real democracy. The fundamental reason is that past US achievements have helped cover up its ugliness, making the US-led Western countries dominate the definition of democracy and profoundly […]
Read MoreAndrew Hammond US President Joe Biden has made “revitalizing democracy the world over” a key goal of his administration, but it has taken almost a year since his inauguration to fulfil the key pledge of holding a summit of democracies that takes place this week. To be sure, it has been a busy 2021 for […]
Read MoreSinem Cengiz After almost a decade of tense ties, Ankara last month received two high-level Gulf officials: First, Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, and then Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and de facto ruler of the UAE. The latter’s visit received great attention in the media, which […]
Read MoreDing Gang When Washington set Beijing as the US’ “most serious competitor,” think tankers in the White House failed to anticipate that a domestic problem, lurking under the surface of US society, finally started to erupt. Due to the epidemic, the challenge has come earlier and more fiercely. More and more young Americans do not […]
Read MoreDing Gang Soaring energy prices have led to serious inflation in the US, which shows, once again, that the US’ economic model is still under the traditional framework based on fossil energy. The energy transformation will experience a complicated and long process. The US is the world’s biggest economy, whose global strategy must take into […]
Read MoreKerry Boyd Anderson A draft of a new EU Strategic Compass was recently presented to senior European officials, with plans to approve a final version in the first half of 2022. The document seeks to help Europe better adapt to a changing global security environment. However, the EU’s foreign policy challenges run deep, including its […]
Read MoreChris Doyle It is a fair bet that Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron will be scrubbing each other off their respective Christmas card lists this year. With both in full-on clash mode, every other day brings yet another Punch and Judy-style spat. The Entente Cordiale has been peppered with insults and accusations hurled across the […]
Read MoreDing Gang On the morning of November 16, Beijing time, Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden held a video meeting. The press briefings released by the two countries after the meeting showed a positive tone in general. Biden used a word in the meeting called “guardrails”. The word is widely used in […]
Read MoreHu Xijin Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton this week replied to my warning to his threat toward China. He said, “They’re words of a bully, not an international player.” I would like to respond to him again: The US, which Australia is preparing to follow when a war breaks out in the Taiwan Straits, is […]
Read MoreHafed Al-Ghwell The story of the last barrel of oil has gained traction in recent years as nations across the world, including parts of the Middle East and North Africa, scramble to curb emissions and transform entire societies in order to avert a crisis resulting from a warming planet. It is a fascinating exercise to […]
Read MoreAndrea Meza Costa Rica is celebrating 200 years of independence this year. It is an opportunity to honor our ancestors and think about our descendants, and we invite the world to celebrate with us. Those who cannot visit in person should do so by protecting the Earth’s land and oceans, the source of all life. […]
Read MoreHu Xijin I have read the notice about the quarantine of pet dogs in Shangrao, East China’s Jiangxi Province. Killing a pet dog with no evidence of being infected by COVID-19 and displaying the video clip of the process clearly lack of the basis of rules. The official notice released after the case said that […]
Read MoreDing Duo On November 14, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with diplomatic envoys of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries in Beijing. Noting that next year marks the 20th anniversary of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), Wang Yi expressed hope that the […]
Read MoreKerry Boyd Anderson Partisan political identities have long played a major role in US politics, but partisanship has increased in recent years. Identifying with one political party or ideology has come to define much of American life, even outside the traditional realm of politics. Partisanship often now defines how Americans view themselves, their communities and […]
Read MoreSara Al-Mulla One of life’s greatest blessings is to be taken under the wing of an illuminating, caring and wise teacher. Time and time again, people have recounted compelling stories of how their teachers transformed their lives in profound ways. This truth has never been more potent and palpable than during the COVID-19 outbreak, where […]
Read MoreHu Xijin The US has reopened its borders to people from 33 countries. Travelers must be fully vaccinated and provide results of a negative coronavirus test. The purpose is to promote economic recovery and boost the tourism industry. Most countries on the list are those in Europe, yet the continent is once again back at […]
Read MoreHu Xijin China is holding the sixth plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. The outside world is very concerned about China’s self-evaluation of the past nine years. I have read the relevant interpretation from the Chinese state media, and found them to be very comprehensive. I would like […]
Read MoreKerry Boyd Anderson Remote work is going to be a major trend around the world well beyond the end of the pandemic. Any company that proactively considers how to create a work environment that benefits from new opportunities and expectations while mitigating challenges will be far ahead. Many businesses that try to return to a […]
Read MorePeter Harrison For as long as I can remember, there has been talk of saving the planet — it is nothing new. Now, in a cold, gray and rather damp Glasgow, the world’s leaders are yet again speaking about the same subject. So far, there have been pledges to end deforestation, reduce methane emissions and […]
Read MoreHu Xijin With regard to several acute issues about the Taiwan Straits, I would like to make some comments. First, has the mainland’s military deterrence against the island worked? Of course it worked. Both the US and the island of Taiwan are nervous about the prospect of a military attack from the Chinese mainland taking […]
Read MoreHu Xijin In recent days, there have been increasing voices on the internet that criticize China’s strict implementation of pandemic prevention measures. Western media have collectively targeted China’s zero-COVID-19 policy, slandering the sustainability of China’s anti-pandemic approach. The complaints on the internet are more complicated. Many of them are about the impact on normal life, […]
Read MoreMohamed Chebaro In normal times, inspections by the French and British of each other’s vessels, fishing or otherwise, is usually a routine activity that is in the interest of both countries. These are historic allies and neighbors who are linked by geography and a shared ethos that values democracy, respect for the rule of law, […]
Read MoreNadim Shehadi Saudi Arabia, followed by Bahrain, the UAE and Kuwait, cut their ties with Lebanon last week because it had fallen under the control of the resistance axis of Hezbollah and Iran. Thirty years after the Madrid Peace Conference of 1991, the region is still divided along a fault line that is principally defined […]
Read MoreHu Xijin The Tsai Ing-wen authority has said that the island will defend itself “to the very last day” if the Chinese mainland attacks. Most people know they are bluffing. A recent Wall Street Journal report quoted several experts as assessing that Taiwan’s military has “poor preparation and low morale”. Also, “adult men in Taiwan […]
Read MoreWang Wen On the last page of his famous book The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, Paul Kennedy quotes Otto von Bismarck, the first chancellor of the German Empire, saying that, “all of these Powers are traveling on the stream of Time, which they can neither create nor direct, but upon which they […]
Read MoreYossi Mekelberg Back in 2018, when Theresa May was still clinging to her job as UK prime minister, she unveiled plans to hold a celebration of the country’s departure from the EU. It was instantly dubbed the “Festival of Brexit.” Since then, it has been renamed “Unboxed: Creativity in the UK.” According to its promoters, […]
Read MoreAndrew Hammond This week’s 10th anniversary of the fall of the Gaddafi regime in Libya exemplifies how much of the 2010s were a wild period for international politics, with a long wave of political turbulence following the 2008-09 international financial crisis. The fallout from that period, which left the global economic system teetering on the […]
Read MoreHu Xijin The three taikonauts onboard the Shenzhou-13 spaceship entered China’s space station core module Tianhe on Saturday. The entire nation was watching and felt a shared sense of national pride. One after another, the country’s major achievements are reshaping the feeling of being a Chinese. The latest off-world success is another showcase of China’s […]
Read MoreHu Xijin Beijing has proposed to suspend the city’s light show and shortened the time of the city’s landscape lighting at night. I believe it makes sense for Beijing to launch this initiative now, whether this is because of Beijing’s power supply shortage or a response to the power shortages in Northeast China and other […]
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