Argument

A veteran observer of elections in troubled countries describes the undeniable parallels.

A once-meaningful event has been hollowed out. Here’s how to fix it.

Tough on China or not, a second term would only spell more misery for Tibetans and other communities victimized by Beijing.

Some hard-won active advice for staging a national vote during a pandemic.

The country has good reason to want first-strike capabilities. But the actual state of its arsenal suggests that it won’t get them.

China won round one, and round two went to Russia. Can the United States and its allies take the third?

The damage done to U.S. standing in Asia will take decades to repair.

For me, Diplomacy is an addictive quarantine hobby. For my high school frenemy, it was training for the Trump administration.

Presidents love making threats. They don’t work.

In interviews with former Islamic State members in hiding, religious concerns have been replaced with more quotidian worries.

Transatlantic relations are at a low point. But there are reasons why even Trump might want to mend them.

Members of the criminal underworld have long turned to politics to avoid prosecution. Ousting one set of corrupt leaders in favor of another won’t end the country’s crisis.

Declassified documents show how Moscow struggled to understand Beijing’s efforts.

Japan’s new prime minister has the skills to take on the country’s bureaucrats.

The killing of a coloured teenager in Johannesburg exposed the fraught state of race relations in South Africa—and how the racial hierarchies created by apartheid continue to plague the country.

Washington can reduce Moscow’s influence and support Kurdish allies without a large troop presence in the region.

The United States can lead the way on innovation in technology regulation—but instead it has fallen far behind.

Tangled in a geopolitical, economic, and global health storm, these African islands have charted a course to break free.

Misinformation is hyperlocal. Attempts to counter it should be, too.

South Korea’s soft power should be a model for Beijing.

Years of quiet development are finally paying off, and Abu Dhabi’s defense industry can largely stand on its own feet.

“Fratelli Tutti” lays out a set of principles that the Vatican doesn’t apply to its own China deals.

The Philippine president is curiously willing to put China’s interests over his country’s.

New polling shows that a growing share of U.S. citizens want leaders who wouldn’t “bother with” elections.

There is a risk of a nuclear cascade across the region. The United States can stop it by enforcing the gold standard of nonproliferation.

Wrecked armor in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was down to bad training and terrain, not magical technology.

Securing human rights in the supply chain of critical minerals is vital for a green future.

The messaging app was a lifeline—and a political danger.

Great powers stand to lose the most from weapons like drone swarms and should back a limited ban on the most dangerous systems.