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ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR: News, analysis, and background on the ongoing conflict.

Primary featured article section

An illustration depicting a partially redacted introduction of the U.S. Constitution, with the red lines covering the redacted words forming an American flag next to a field of blue stars positioned before the first lines.
An illustration depicting a partially redacted introduction of the U.S. Constitution, with the red lines covering the redacted words forming an American flag next to a field of blue stars positioned before the first lines.

Does Democracy Really Die in Darkness?

A provocative history questions the relationship between the state, its secrets, and the people.

Review
Bronwen Everill
John Ackah Blay-Miezah smokes a cigar in the London office of the Oman Ghana Trust Fund in the 1980s.
John Ackah Blay-Miezah smokes a cigar in the London office of the Oman Ghana Trust Fund in the 1980s.

The Man Who Conned the World

How one of the greatest scam artists of all time used Ghana’s colonial past to get rich.

Excerpt
Yepoka Yeebo
Joaquin Phoenix (center) stars in the film "Napoleon."
Joaquin Phoenix (center) stars in the film "Napoleon."

What Ridley Scott’s ‘Napoleon’ Gets Wrong About War

The film’s ideas have poisoned military thinking for centuries.

Review
Franz-Stefan Gady
Kissinger stands at a lectern with microphones with a large world map on the wall behind him.
Kissinger stands at a lectern with microphones with a large world map on the wall behind him.

Kissinger’s Great Game

In his worldview, little countries only mattered to the extent that they played into struggles among the mighty.

Argument
Howard W. French

Recent

Asia & the Pacific

A row of South Korean soldiers marches in formation across a field in Seoul. They are dressed in formal uniforms and hats, and each has one leg raised as they take a step in unison. Each soldier also carries the flag of one of the member states of the United Nations Command.
A row of South Korean soldiers marches in formation across a field in Seoul. They are dressed in formal uniforms and hats, and each has one leg raised as they take a step in unison. Each soldier also carries the flag of one of the member states of the United Nations Command.

South Korea Offers a Chance to Modernize Old Alliances
Argument
Clint Work, Hanbyeol Sohn

India Looks to Seize Opportunity at COP28

The ICC Should Prosecute Taliban Leaders

The Inconvenient Truth of Taiwan’s Indigenous Peoples

China

A chart illustration shows past secretaries of state on shorter blue and red lines with a walking, full-body Antony Blinken on the longest line with his hand outstretched to shake with President Xi Jinping (not seen).
A chart illustration shows past secretaries of state on shorter blue and red lines with a walking, full-body Antony Blinken on the longest line with his hand outstretched to shake with President Xi Jinping (not seen).

U.S. Engagement With China in 3 Charts
Infographic
Alexandra Sharp

Why Xi Thinks He Got the Better of Biden

Cold and Flu Season Stirs Dread in China

Chinese Hospitals Are Housing Another Deadly Outbreak

Middle East & Africa

Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, president of the 2023 U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP28), speaks to the media following the opening session of the conference in Dubai on Nov. 30.
Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, president of the 2023 U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP28), speaks to the media following the opening session of the conference in Dubai on Nov. 30.

At COP28, the World Needs to Prioritize Financial Reform
Analysis
Rajiv J. Shah

The Dark Side of Climate Finance

Why Gaza Won’t End Up Like East Timor or Kosovo

Will the Congolese Opposition Unite?

Europe

British Royal Navy pilot Lt. Cmdr. Rory Cheyne, an exchange officer with the U.S. Navy, flies an F-18 Super Hornet past HMS Prince of Wales.
British Royal Navy pilot Lt. Cmdr. Rory Cheyne, an exchange officer with the U.S. Navy, flies an F-18 Super Hornet past HMS Prince of Wales.

Britain’s Navy Is Diminished. Its Ambitions Are Not.
Dispatch
Alexander Wooley

How Centrists Helped Geert Wilders Win the Dutch Election

What Geert Wilders Wants in Europe

Populist Rage Gives Dutch Far Right a Worrying Shot at Power

Americas

A worker hoists a United Nations flag with other national flags of participating countries at the venue of the COP28 U.N. climate summit in Dubai on Nov. 30, 2023.
A worker hoists a United Nations flag with other national flags of participating countries at the venue of the COP28 U.N. climate summit in Dubai on Nov. 30, 2023.

Will COP28 Jump-Start Latin America’s Green Energy Ambitions?
Latin America Brief
Catherine Osborn

Henry Kissinger, Colossus on the World Stage

Bukele’s Bitcoin Mess and the U.S.-Backed Bank That Enabled It

Why COP28 Could Be the Most Contentious in Years

FP Insider logo Subscribe for access to exclusive articles, insights, and more

Smoke billows from multiple pipes against a hazy sky at a large steel plant in China.
Smoke billows from multiple pipes against a hazy sky at a large steel plant in China.

Will the World’s Biggest Emitters Finally Play Nice at COP28?
Insider
Ravi Agrawal
Joaquin Phoenix in the film "Napoleon."
Joaquin Phoenix in the film "Napoleon."

The Economic Legacy of Napoleon Bonaparte
Insider
Cameron Abadi, Adam Tooze
U.S. President Joe Biden (R) and Chinese President Xi Jinping walk together after a meeting during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' week in Woodside, California.
U.S. President Joe Biden (R) and Chinese President Xi Jinping walk together after a meeting during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' week in Woodside, California.

The Biden-Xi Meeting: Did the White House Get More Than It Gave?
Insider
Ravi Agrawal

In the Magazine

Current Issue: Fall 2023 Archives
The cover of Foreign Policy's fall 2023 print magazine shows a jack made up of joined hands lifting up the world. Cover text reads: The Alliances That Matter Now: Multilateralism is at a dead end, but powerful blocs are getting things done."
An illustration shows the Statue of Liberty holding a torch with other hands alongside hers as she lifts the flame, also resembling laurel, into place on the edge of the United Nations laurel logo.
An illustration shows the Statue of Liberty holding a torch with other hands alongside hers as she lifts the flame, also resembling laurel, into place on the edge of the United Nations laurel logo.

A New Multilateralism

How the United States can rejuvenate the global institutions it created.

Essay
Gordon Brown

NATO’s Remarkable Revival

But the bloc’s future could look very different from its past.

Analysis
Jo Inge Bekkevold

The G-7 Becomes a Power Player
Analysis
G. John Ikenberry

The Nimble New Minilaterals
Analysis
C. Raja Mohan

The China-Russia Axis Takes Shape
Analysis
Bonny Lin

FP Columnists

Weekend Reads

A sticker featuring U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden and partially reading "asylum" is seen on the pavement of a Berlin street.
A sticker featuring U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden and partially reading "asylum" is seen on the pavement of a Berlin street.

The Song and Dance of American Secrecy

Espionage law hasn’t changed much since William Howard Taft—yet recent presidents have wielded it as a cudgel more than ever before.

Excerpt
Sam Lebovic
A painting shows the buildings lining Old University Square in Vienna. People walk in the foreground.
A painting shows the buildings lining Old University Square in Vienna. People walk in the foreground.

The Untold Story of Vienna’s Global Influence
Review
Emily Schultheis
An illustration of a Coca-Cola bottle in the foreground as a casualty of war, with a small flame remaining. The desolate background shows silhouettes of soldiers and a tank.
An illustration of a Coca-Cola bottle in the foreground as a casualty of war, with a small flame remaining. The desolate background shows silhouettes of soldiers and a tank.

Brands Are the First Casualty of War
Argument
Paul Musgrave
A tram car moves along a street in Lisbon, framed on either side by buildings in the foreground. Another building looms over the tram in the background, with plaster siding and balconies in front of some of its windows. A woman in a sleeveless shirt and jeans walks on a crosswalk in front of the tram.
A tram car moves along a street in Lisbon, framed on either side by buildings in the foreground. Another building looms over the tram in the background, with plaster siding and balconies in front of some of its windows. A woman in a sleeveless shirt and jeans walks on a crosswalk in front of the tram.

Is Portugal’s Golden Visa Scheme Worth It?
Dispatch
Kitty Greenwald

Subscribers’ Picks

The USS Nimitz and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and South Korean Navy warships sail in formation during a joint naval exercise off the South Korean coast.
The USS Nimitz and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and South Korean Navy warships sail in formation during a joint naval exercise off the South Korean coast.

America Is a Heartbeat Away From a War It Could Lose

Global war is neither a theoretical contingency nor the fever dream of hawks and militarists.

Shadow Government
A. Wess Mitchell
U.S. President Joe Biden talks to fellow leaders during the group photo at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit on Dec. 15, 2022 in Washington.
U.S. President Joe Biden talks to fellow leaders during the group photo at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit on Dec. 15, 2022 in Washington.

The West Should Give Up the Battle of Narratives

The Western world has misunderstood what the global south really wants.

Argument
Julien Barnes-Dacey, Jeremy Shapiro
Biden and Xi shake hands while standing on a red carpet next to a white marble column.
Biden and Xi shake hands while standing on a red carpet next to a white marble column.

Why Xi Was All Smiles With Biden

The Chinese president’s strong-arm diplomacy hasn’t worked.

Analysis
Howard W. French
Members of Hamas' armed wing hold a Palestinian flag atop an Israeli tank. A border fence stretches behind them in the distance.
Members of Hamas' armed wing hold a Palestinian flag atop an Israeli tank. A border fence stretches behind them in the distance.

What Was Hamas Thinking?

The Oct. 7 attack was the culmination of a strategic shift to challenge the movement’s containment.

Argument
Tareq Baconi

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Rashid-Khalidi-FPLive-Site-3-2

Rashid Khalidi on the Israel-Hamas War

Historian Rashid Khalidi, Columbia University’s Edward Said professor of modern Arab studies, will join FP’s Ravi Agrawal to discuss potential solutions to the conflict between Israel and Hamas. 

Watch Now

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vijay-fp

What to Expect From COP-28
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GettyImages-1244769682

Takeaways from Biden’s Meeting With Xi
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GettyImages-1724063904 (1)

Israel-Hamas War: The Regional Ripple Effects
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Barak-fp

Ehud Barak on the Israel-Hamas War

Books

Holiday-book-guide-foreign-policy-2023-hp
Holiday-book-guide-foreign-policy-2023-hp

Foreign Policy’s Holiday Book List

Our columnists and staff writers recommend their top reads for the end of the year.

Review
FP Staff, FP Contributors
Book covers for Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon by Michael Lewis and Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud by Ben McKenzie.
Book covers for Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon by Michael Lewis and Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud by Ben McKenzie.

Why Did America’s Elite Keep Falling for Crypto Frauds?
Review
Stan Veuger
Book cover for Material World by Ed Conway
Book cover for Material World by Ed Conway

Living in a Material World
Review
Bronwen Everill
Elon Musk, Walter Isaacson, Simon & Schuster, 688 pp., $35, September 2023
Elon Musk, Walter Isaacson, Simon & Schuster, 688 pp., $35, September 2023

Elon Musk Is the Messy Hero of Our Messy Age
Review
Zachary Karabell
The cover of Homelands: A Personal History of Europe by Timothy Garton Ash.
The cover of Homelands: A Personal History of Europe by Timothy Garton Ash.

How the European Project Fell Apart
Review
Jan-Werner Müller
The book cover for Mathias Doepfner's The Trade Trap: How to Stop Doing Business With Dictators
The book cover for Mathias Doepfner's The Trade Trap: How to Stop Doing Business With Dictators

A Grand Plan for a Much Poorer World
Review
Bob Davis
Palestine-israel-conflict-history-books-foreign-policy-homepage
Palestine-israel-conflict-history-books-foreign-policy-homepage

The Best Books for Understanding the Israel-Hamas War
Review
FP Staff, FP Contributors

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Visual Stories

An illustrations shows overlapping arrows and pie charts atop an image of container ships in an ocean seen from above.
An illustrations shows overlapping arrows and pie charts atop an image of container ships in an ocean seen from above.

How China and the U.S. Are Competing on Trade

Most big economies are inextricably tied to both Washington and Beijing.

Infographic
Alexandra Sharp, Olatunji Osho-Williams
Rafet Kurse, a former fisherman, stands next to an abandoned boat on the former shores of Marmara Lake. A dry, dusty landscape stretches into the distance behind him.
Rafet Kurse, a former fisherman, stands next to an abandoned boat on the former shores of Marmara Lake. A dry, dusty landscape stretches into the distance behind him.

King of the Dammed

Turkish President Erdogan’s mega-infrastructure projects are enriching construction companies while reshaping his country’s waterscape for the worse.

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Hannah Lucinda Smith

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