Argument
An expert’s point of view on a current event.
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Cameroonian President Paul Biya looks toward supporters from his motorcade in Yaoundé on Nov. 6, 2018. The U.S. Should Bid Biya Goodbye
It’s time for Washington to renegotiate its ties with Cameroon's absentee leader.
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A group exercises in the smog near the tomb of Mohammed Shah at Lodhi Gardens in New Delhi on Jan. 12. India’s Deadly War on Experts
Empty promises and bad data won’t solve the air pollution crisis.
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Conservative Party leadership candidate Boris Johnson gestures during a visit to the construction project to expand Terminal Two at Manchester Airport in England on July 9. Boris Johnson’s Cartoon Englishness Is a Dangerous Joke
The likely British prime minister doesn’t take anything seriously—even the country’s future.
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People celebrate after protest leaders strike a deal with the ruling generals on a new governing body in Khartoum on July 5. How Darfur Became Sudan’s Kingmaker
The country’s strongman is using the region to cement his rule.
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Hadi al-Amiri, head of the Iranian-backed Badr Organization and leader of the Fateh Alliance, a coalition of Iranian-supported militia groups, speaks during a campaign rally in Baghdad on May 7, 2018. Reining in Iraq’s Paramilitaries Will Just Make Them Stronger
How the Popular Mobilization Forces are taking over the Iraqi state from within.
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Iraqi Shiite militia banners are seen by a road in the Iraqi town of Baaj near the Iraq-Syria border on June 20, 2017. Iran and the United States Battle It Out in Iraq
Iraq’s Shiite militias are doing Iran’s bidding against the United States. Baghdad won’t be able to dismantle them.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands after an official welcoming ceremony in Beijing on July 2. Muslim Leaders Are Betraying the Uighurs
The Trump administration has done more for the millions in camps than any Islamic leader.
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Palestinian demonstrators carry caricatures during a protest against the U.S.-led peace plan in Ramallah on June 24. Wedge Politics Won’t Bring Israeli-Palestinian Peace
Kushner’s plan aims to divide Palestinians from their leaders but fails to recognize that the people already resent their corrupt leadership—while failing to place any similar pressure on an Israeli prime minister under indictment.
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Greece's newly-elected prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis shakes hands with outgoing prime minister Alexis Tsipras, as Tsipras leaves the Maximos Mansion on July 8 in Athens. Greece’s New Prime Minister Is Just as Populist as the Old One
Athens’s center-right establishment is back in power after mimicking the scare tactics of the far-left.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at a protest rally in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 4, 2018. The Myth of Democratic Socialism
The Nordic countries show the limits, not successes, of Bernie Sanders’s plans.
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Head of the conservative Christian Democratic Union party Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer poses with party member and German Chancellor Angela Merkel before a party board meeting in Berlin on June 24, 2019. Merkel’s Final Mistake Is Her Chosen Successor
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer is in line to take over as German chancellor—but there’s no telling if she’ll survive long enough to get the job.
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Taliban fighters and local residents celebrate the ceasefire on the second day of Eid in the outskirts of Jalalabad on June 16,2018. There Will Be No Peace for Afghanistan
Despite optimistic signs from U.S.-led peace talks in Qatar, Afghanistan’s future looks bleak.
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An elderly couple sit in Setenil de las Bodegas near Cádiz on Dec. 2, 2018, during Andalusia's regional election. Spain’s Formula to Live Forever
The country is set to boast the world’s longest life expectancy by 2040. What are the Spanish doing right?
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Campaign posters for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in April and for then-Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic in March 2017. The Dangerous Politics of Playing the Victim
The leaders of Israel and Serbia share one thing: They’ve perfected the politics of persecution. Here’s why that strategy won’t keep working.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomes Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde as she arrives to attend the G20 summit in Hamburg, northern Germany, on July 7, 2017. Christine Lagarde Won, but This Isn’t a Game
Europe is celebrating new leadership, but its central bank will have to confront problems that have no easy answers.
