( Tomdispatch.com ) – With recent polls giving Donald Trump a reasonable chance of defeating President Biden in the November elections, commentators have begun predicting what his second presidency might mean for domestic politics. In a dismally detailed Washington Post analysis, historian Robert Kagan argued that a second Trump term would feature his “deep thirst […]
The Other Imperialism: Russia’s Mercenaries Abroad
( Tomdispatch.com ) – One of modern history’s major empires is falling apart right now, right before our eyes. Yet precious few in the media have reported on this extraordinary event, much less offered any analysis of its implications for the fast-changing shape of global power. Over the past 60 years, France has used every […]
Peace for Ukraine Courtesy of China? Another Step in Beijing’s Rise to Global Power
( Tomdispatch.com ) – All wars do end, usually thanks to a negotiated peace agreement. Consider that a fundamental historical fact, even if it seems to have been forgotten in Brussels, Moscow, and above all, Washington, D.C. In recent months, among Russian President Vladimir Putin’s followers, there has been much talk of a “forever war” […]
Does the Rise of China in Eurasia mean the Fall of the United States as the Global Power?
( Tomdispatch.com) – From the ashes of a world war that killed 80 million people and reduced great cities to smoking rubble, America rose like a Titan of Greek legend, unharmed and armed with extraordinary military and economic power, to govern the globe. During four years of combat against the Axis leaders in Berlin and […]
At the Brink of War in the Pacific? The Nightmare of Great Power Rivalry Over Taiwan
( Tomdispatch.com ) – While the world has been distracted, even amused, by the diplomatic tussle around China’s recent high-altitude balloon flights across North America, there are signs that Beijing and Washington are preparing for something so much more serious: armed conflict over Taiwan. Reviewing recent developments in the Asia-Pacific region raises a tried-and-true historical […]
Could the United States return to a Good Neighbor Policy in the Americas? Can it afford not to?
( Tomdispatch.com ) – A few recent headlines reveal the painfully inhumane, dangerously volatile state of U.S. relations with its own home region, the continent of North America. A record-breaking 2.76 million border crossings from Mexico filled homeless shelters to the bursting point in cities nationwide in 2022. This year, the possible cessation of Covid […]
The New Cold War Heats Up Asia: China and the U.S. Face an Unprecedented Crisis
( Tomdispatch.com ) – If the world is indeed entering a new Cold War, it bears little resemblance to the final years of that global conflict with its frequent summits between smiling leaders and its arms agreements aimed at de-escalating nuclear tensions. Instead, the world today seems more like the perilous first decade of that […]
What Difference Does a War Make? The Geopolitics of the New Cold War
( Tomdispatch.com ) – From his first days in office, Joe Biden and his national security advisers seemed determined to revive America’s fading global leadership via the strategy they knew best — challenging the “revisionist powers” Russia and China with a Cold War-style aggressiveness. When it came to Beijing, the president combined the policy initiatives […]
How to End the War in Ukraine: A Solution Beyond Sanctions
( Tomdispatch.com ) – As the war in Ukraine heads for its third month amid a rising toll of death and destruction, Washington and its European allies are scrambling, so far unsuccessfully, to end that devastating, globally disruptive conflict. Spurred by troubling images of executed Ukrainian civilians scattered in the streets of Bucha and ruined […]