Dispatch
The view from the ground.
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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivers a speech at the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 15. The U.S. and Europe Are Speaking a Different Language on China
Dire American warnings about the threat from Beijing fall on deaf ears at the Munich Security Conference.
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Filipinos wearing face masks attend Sunday Mass at a church in Paranaque, Metro Manila, on Feb. 9. Filipinos Turn on Duterte as Coronavirus Fears Spread
Anti-Chinese and anti-American conspiracy theories have followed the first death.
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The now-demolished Camel Youth Hostel in Kashgar, Xinjiang Xinjiang’s Hui Muslims Were Swept Into Camps Alongside Uyghurs
Testimonies and eyewitness accounts suggest the mass incarceration of ethnic Hui in China’s northwest.
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Palace guards wear medical masks in Bangkok on Feb. 4. Tourists Dwindle as Thailand Readies for Coronavirus Threat
Billions of dollars are at stake as Bangkok walks the line between closing borders and angering Beijing.
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Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai (left), Afghanistan's acting defense minister at the time, speaks during a joint press conference with then-Interior Minister Noor-ul-haq Ulomi in Kabul on Dec. 23, 2015. Is Afghan Intelligence Building a Regime of Terror With the CIA’s Help?
As dissidents are attacked and murdered, critics liken the National Directorate of Security to the brutal intelligence service of the Afghan communists in the 1980s.
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Eldred Davis protests the New England Clean Energy Connect corridor Canada’s Not-So-Green Green Energy
Hydropower may be the future of Canadian power, but it won’t bring the environmental benefits many proponents tout.
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Palestinian demonstrators burn portraits of U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a protest against Trump’s proposed peace plan in Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp on Jan. 31. Trump’s Peace Plan Is Palestinians’ Worst Nightmare
Arab states might accept Trump’s one-sided initiative, but an increasingly vocal new generation of Palestinians won’t allow regional leaders to sign away their right to a sovereign homeland.
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Migrants in a detention center in Libya Italy’s Failed Migration Fix Has Led to Chaos in Libya
Despite pushing policies that are politically naive and disastrous for human rights in North Africa, Italian politicians keep getting promoted in Brussels.
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hosts African leaders and senior government representatives during the UK-Africa Investment Summit in London on Jan.20. Boris Johnson’s New Scramble for Africa
The prime minister’s vision of a “Global Britain” after Brexit will only succeed if he abandons imperial nostalgia in favor of practical investment in the continent’s fast-growing economies.
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U.S. Vice President Mike Pence speaks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the Fifth World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem on Jan. 23. For Netanyahu, Trump’s White House Is the Gift That Keeps on Giving
A U.S. peace plan seems designed mainly to get Bibi reelected. The Palestinians aren’t even invited.
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Afghan men walk along the highway between the Turkish cities of Dogubayazit and Agri, in eastern Turkey, near the border with Iran on April 22, 2019. After crossing the border, they were unable to obtain proper documentation that would allow them to ride public transportation, forcing them to walk for hours or days as they travel toward Istanbul on their way to Europe. As America Shuts Its Doors, Afghan Refugees Are Stuck in Turkey
The Trump administration has made it nearly impossible for Afghans who aided U.S. troops to claim asylum in the United States. Instead, thousands who aided Americans on the battlefield are stranded in a country that doesn't want them.
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People demonstrate in Lima on Oct. 3, 2019, after President Martin Vizcarra dissolved Peru's unicameral parliament. Peru’s Vote for a New Congress Could Shape the President’s Legacy
After suspending the country’s Congress last fall, new legislative elections could give Martín Vizcarra the support he needs to confront corruption—or lead to renewed political gridlock.
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Protesters take part in a pro-independence march on Jan. 11 in Glasgow, Scotland. A New Scottish Independence Vote Seems All but Inevitable
With increasing support from voters, the Scottish National Party is unlikely to give up its fight for a second referendum despite the procedural obstacles it faces.
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Boys study at the madrassa in Lamatak village, in Afghanistan's Kunar province, on Sept. 16, 2019. In Afghanistan, Religious Schools Are a Breeding Ground for Islamic State Influence
Countless madrassas are said to be funded by Gulf sources associated with the spread of extremist Salafist views.
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Russian national guard members patrol along Moscow's Red Square on Dec. 30, 2019. For Russia, Impeachment Can’t Be Over Soon Enough
Despite the shadow cast by election interference, many leading Russians—even Putin—would like to get back to normal dealings.
