The US has made much of its success in isolating Russia internationally. But that boast is hard to take too seriously when Russia is growing ever closer to the two largest countries in the world. While the world has been watching the "no limits" partnership...
The World Is Changing. Is the US Finally Noticing?
Recent statements by two Biden administration officials hint that the US is finally noticing that the world around them is changing On April 11, CIA Director William Burns spoke at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. In a somewhat stunning statement...
Lula Goes to China: Three Takeaways
On April 14, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva arrived in Beijing for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Since their meeting, Lula, who is the leader of the largest economy and most powerful country in Latin America, has made statements, both with XI...
What Happens When You Talk? Peace Breaks Out!
After decades of stewardship of the Middle East, during which the US pursued the absurd policy of not talking to its enemies and creating and enforcing blocs to oppose and isolate those enemies, the predictable outcome occurred. The region was left with blocs and...
Saudi Arabia: When Being Neutral Isn’t Neutral Anymore
"We do not believe in polarization or selecting between one partner and another," Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said, asserting the Kingdom’s right to act "based on its own interests" and to have...
Macron Goes to China: Whose Side Is He On?
After three days and many hours of talks, French President Emmanuel Macron emerged from Beijing and made a number of statements that, presumably to the alarm of the US, seemed to align several key foreign policy positions more closely with Beijing than with...
So, You Think the US Wouldn’t Pass Up on a Peace Plan?
On February 24, China published its "Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis." It pledged that China is willing to assume "a constructive role in this regard." Rather than accepting a powerful partner with influence and a recent track record of...
Is France Beginning To Steer an Independent Course?
Is it time to put Freedom Fries back on the menu? Back in 2003, french fries became freedom fries in the US in disgust with "our so-called ally, France" who took an independent "self-serving" course and refused to support US policy on Iraq. Having...
China: The Rock Upon Which the US-Led Alliance Breaks
In March, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, where they not only "reaffirm[ed] the special nature of the Russia-China partnership," but "signed a statement on deepening the strategic partnership and bilateral ties which are...
The War in Ukraine and How Africa Surprised the West
On March 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Moscow. The meeting, at which the two leaders "reaffirm[ed] the special nature of the Russia-China partnership" may be a crucial moment in the emergence of the new multipolar...


