Make Sense of the world
Unique insight from 2,000+ contributors in 80+ Countries
As dusk fell on June 15, a bloody clash broke out between Chinese and Indian soldiers in the Galwan Valley on the northwest China-India border, where a tributary of the Indus flows westward from Aksai Chin to Ladakh. In line with China’s recent expansionist policy elsewhere, its military had...
If the Trump administration follows through on its threat to restart nuclear tests, it will complete the unraveling of more than 50 years of arms control agreements, taking the world back to the days when school children practiced “duck and cover” and people built backyard bomb...
Sweeping military victories in recent weeks by forces aligned with the Government of National Accord (GNA) in northwestern Libya have effectively ushered in the end of the self-styled Libyan National Army’s (LNA) 14-month offensive to capture Tripoli. While fighting between the warring parties...
Six years ago, a political crisis in Ukraine turned into an armed confrontation. Separatists came to power in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine, declared their unwillingness to forge closer ties with the European Union and proclaimed the independence of these territories. In April...
The US decision to withdraw two of its four Patriot anti-missile batteries from Saudi Arabia, along with the 300 soldiers that operated them, has led to speculation about what lies behind the move. Some analysts have linked it to the kingdom’s oil policy, arguing that the decision is intended to...
The border clash between China and India has made the headlines of international news. On May 5, troops from both countries confronted each other on the banks of Pangong Lake in Ladakh, the northernmost region of India. Four days later, they squared off in North Sikkim, an area of India that...
The announcement on June 4 that forces of Libya’s UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) had regained full control of the capital, Tripoli, could be viewed as an apparent victory for Turkish foreign policy in the eastern Mediterranean. Renegade General Khalifa Haftar is in retreat,...
Although other nations, such as New Zealand, have received kudos for their handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, one country that has not received the praise it is due from the international media brigade is Tunisia. The small North African country with a fragile economy has achieved a...
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprisingly participated in the virtual Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in May for the first time since he took office in 2014. Modi had skipped the 2016 and 2019 NAM summits, but his attendance in 2020 could signal a revival of this once-important...
Ships can be some of the most dangerous places for a viral epidemic to flourish, and even more so in the cramped, communal quarters of a naval vessel. Thus far, the COVID-19 pandemic has counted 18 warships from five countries amongst its victims. In terms of the total number of infections and...
Economists like to think of the wreckage caused by stock market downturns, widespread bankruptcies and corporate downsizing as “creative destruction.” As it destroys the old and the dysfunctional, the capitalist system continually spurs innovation, much as a forest fire prepares the ground for...
