The Political Price Being Paid for Being in the West

The concept of “the West” is a complex and difficult one. At times it excludes countries in the geographical west, like Cuba and Venezuela and sometimes Brazil. At times it includes countries not in the geographical west, like Japan and Australia. As Richard Sakwa has...

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Multipolarity and Its Potentials for Peace

For the past several decades, as the leader of a unipolar world, all diplomatic pathways to peace went through Washington. Any negotiated settlement had to be an American led negotiated settlement. But enforcing hegemony means not being impartial. It means rewarding...

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It’s Time to Find a Way To End the War in Ukraine

For over two and a half years, a semi-proxy war has been raging in Ukraine. In a proxy war, two powers avoid direct conflict by fighting through weaker intermediary partners. The Russia-Ukraine war is a semi-proxy war because one power, Russia, is directly involved,...

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The World’s Not Aligning America’s Way

In recent weeks, a number of shifts in relations have taken place in far apart regions that continue to highlight that the world is not aligning America’s way. The first took place between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Maintaining a coalition against Iran has long been a key...

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Is a THAAD for Israel Worth a War With Iran?

On October 1, Iran launched around 180 missiles, of various types, against Israel. Israel promised a response that “will be lethal, precise and above all, surprising.” On October 23, Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant said that “after we attack Iran, everyone will...

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A Pathway from Gaza to a Wider War

“We’re going to do everything we can to keep a wider war from breaking out,” U.S. President Joe Biden promised when war erupted in Gaza. But that foreign policy legacy is in tatters. War has spread from Gaza to Lebanon and has arrived at the doorstep of Iran. There is...

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