U.S. President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman meet in the White House on March 20. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Our Top Stories of 2018

From the Mueller investigation to China’s expanding influence, these are the pieces readers clicked on the most.

2018-books-lead

The Books We Read in 2018

Some of Foreign Policy’s favorite reads of the year.

A Honduran migrant caravan crowds the Guatemala-Mexico international border bridge in Ciudad Hidalgo, in Chiapas state, Mexico, on Oct. 20. (Pedro Pardo/AFP/Getty Images)

Overrated or Underreported?

A look at the stories the media hyped—or largely ignored—in 2018.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the U.S. military during an unannounced trip to Al Asad Airbase in Iraq on Dec. 26. Trump arrived in Iraq on his first visit to U.S. troops in a war zone since his election two years ago. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

In Reversal, Trump Signals Further Boost in Defense Spending

The U.S. president had been calling for cuts in recent months.

A farmer carries a sack of coca leaves in a field in the Guaviare department, Colombia, on Sept. 25, 2017. (Raul Arboleda/AFP/Getty Images)

Swapping Cocaine for Peace

A voluntary coca crop substitution initiative in Colombia is failing. It is still the country’s best option to address its cocaine production problem.

A woman looks for items to salvage amid the wreckage of a street in Yarmouk, in Damascus, Syria, on Oct. 9. (Louai Beshara/AFP/Getty Images)

‘We Can’t Save Syrians Anymore, But We Can Save the Truth’

An ambitious oral history project will determine how the war in Syria is remembered.

VANCOUVER, BC - DECEMBER 10: Supporters Ada Yu and Wade Meng (no relation) stand with a sign outside BC Supreme Court before the bail hearing for Huawei Technologies CFO Meng Wanzhou on December 10, 2018 in Vancouver, Canada. (Photo by Rich Lam/Getty Images)

China Doesn’t Have to Keep Playing the Victim

The Communist Party has primed the public to expect persecution abroad.

Voices

Secretary of Defense James Mattis listens while President Donald Trump speaks before a meeting with military leaders in the White House on Oct. 23, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)

James Mattis Wasn’t Ready to Serve in a Democracy

After the tributes die down, the outgoing defense secretary will be remembered for recklessly expanding, and covering up, the country’s wars.

President Donald Trump walks with Secretary of Defence James Mattis, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and National Security Adviser John Bolton at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, on July 11. (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images)

Good Riddance to America’s Syria Policy

As usual, Donald Trump has done the right thing in the wrong way.

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends a military ceremony at the Hotel des Invalides in Paris on Oct. 24, 2017.  CHARLES PLATIAU (Charles Platiau/AFP/Getty Images)

Sisi Isn’t Mubarak. He’s Much Worse.

Egypt faced terrible repression during the Nasser, Sadat, and Mubarak eras, but nothing like today’s sustained cruelty.

Americans watch President George W. Bush address the nation on March 19, 2003 in Marlton, New Jersey.  (Don Murray/Getty Images)

6 Questions to Ask Before Starting Your Next War

Only Americans can stop their country from participating in strategically misguided, irresponsible, and immoral adventures.

Galleries

People play golf as an ash plume rises in the distance from the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on Hawaii's Big Island on May 15. Another violent eruption on May 17 sent ash 30,000 feet into the sky, with the U.S. Geological Survey warning that ash could fall as far as Hilo, 30 miles away. MARIO TAMA/GETTY IMAGES

2018: The Year in World Photos

Strife in Syria and Yemen. Historic meetings in Helsinki and Panmunjom. Natural disaster in Guatemala and Greece. And passionate protests in Paris, Gaza, and Washington.

A Maasai warrior jumps to reach a rope during a sporting event dubbed the Maasai Olympics at Kimana, near Kenya's bordertown with Tanzania, on Dec. 15. The event, held every two years since 2012, is an initiative of international conservation groups to offer Maasai warriors an alternative to killing lions as part of their traditional rite of passage.  YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty Images

A Week in World Photos

Soldiers in Yemen, Masai warriors in Kenya, and protesters in France.

In the Magazine

In the Magazine

A cruise ship near the harbor of Ilulissat off the west coast of Greenland, north of the Arctic Circle, in August 2012. (Education Images/UIG via Getty Images)

Stretched Thin on Thin Ice

With the Arctic melting and northern coast guards struggling to keep up, the next disaster is a matter of when, not if.

Matt Chase illustration for Foreign Policy

Food Fight

Why the next big battle may not be fought over treasure or territory—but for fish.

The Taliban’s Fight for Hearts and Minds

The militants’ new strategy is to out-govern the U.S.-backed administration in Kabul—and it’s working.

Point and Nuke

Remembering the era of portable atomic bombs.

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