Order from Chaos

Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting on the sideline of the 11th edition of the BRICS Summit, in Brasilia, Brazil November 13, 2019. Sputnik/Ramil Sitdikov/Kremlin via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. - RC2LAD9NM7N7

Unpacking the China-Russia ‘alliance’

Michael E. O’Hanlon and Adam Twardowski · Friday, December 13, 2019

Kurdish fighters gesture while carrying their parties' flags in Tel Abyad of Raqqa governorate after they said they took control of the area June 15, 2015. Syrian Kurdish-led forces said they had captured a town at the Turkish border from Islamic State on Monday, driving it away from the frontier in an advance backed by U.S.-led air strikes that has thrust deep into the jihadists' Syria stronghold. The capture of Tel Abyad by the Kurdish YPG and smaller Syrian rebel groups means the Syrian Kurds effectively control some 400 km (250 miles) of the Syrian-Turkish border that has been a conduit for foreign fighters joining Islamic State. Picture taken June 15, 2015. REUTERS/Rodi Said TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - GF10000129146

ISIS and the false dawn of Kurdish statehood

Ömer Taşpınar

Friday, December 13, 2019

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson is greeted by staff as he arrives back at Downing Street, after meeting Queen Elizabeth and accepting her invitation to form a new government after the Conservative Party was returned to power in the general election with an increased majority, in London, Britain December 13, 2019. Stefan Rousseau/Pool via REUTERS - RC2CUD9C5SL9

Brexit endgame: British voters back Boris and Brexit

Friday, December 13, 2019

Sadako Ogata, former U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, speaks during an interview in Tokyo, October 29, 2015. Japan, which accepted less than a dozen asylum seekers last year, should show more leadership on refugees and craft an immigration policy given its need for foreign workers, the former U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said on Thursday. Ogata, 88, whose great-grandfather, then-premier Tsuyoshi Inukai, was assassinated by radical naval officers in 1932, also said that while Japan's military had a global role to play, it should not be one that involved fighting overseas. REUTERS/Thomas Peter - GF20000037482

A tribute to Sadako Ogata

Roberta Cohen and Francis M. Deng

Friday, December 13, 2019

An empty speaker's lectern is seen in the rain outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, October 10, 2013. U.S. House of Representatives Republicans are weighing a short-term debt limit increase with no added policy changes, such as deficit-reduction requirements, according to a source with knowledge of the discussions. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS) - GM1E9AA1RTL01

An up-close look at what impeachment proceedings can mean for foreign policy

Friday, December 13, 2019

Assistant Secretary of State David Stilwell speaks at Brookings.

Highlights: Assessing China’s role in East Asia

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Yasser al-Rumayyan, Saudi Aramco's chairman, and Amin H. Nasser, president and CEO of Aramco, attend a news conference at the Plaza Conference Center in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia November 3, 2019. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed - RC14A8AB6F00

The Saudi Aramco IPO breaks records, but falls short of expectations

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Marine Le Pen, National Front (FN) political party leader, and Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon attend a news conference, during the party's convention in Lille, France, March 10, 2018. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol - RC14728484E0

Highlights: Experts discuss the tensions between populist, nationalist, and democratic impulses

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks to U.S. troops during an unannounced visit to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, November 28, 2019. REUTERS/Tom Brenner - RC2JKD9WFP81

What the Washington Post gets wrong about the US and Afghanistan

Michael E. O’Hanlon

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

The main gate at Naval Air Station Pensacola is seen on Navy Boulevard in Pensacola, Florida, U.S. March 16, 2016. Picture taken March 16, 2016. U.S. Navy/Patrick Nichols/Handout via REUTERS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. - RC2RPD9BC4N8

The Pensacola attack by a Saudi pilot: Implications for US-Saudi ties

Daniel L. Byman and Tamara Cofman Wittes

Friday, December 6, 2019

A tractor cleans debris outside a damaged building in Mezzah, Damascus, Syria November 12, 2019. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki - RC2J9D9H43XW

What can we learn from the escalating Israeli raids in Syria?

Eyal Tsir Cohen and Kevin Huggard

Friday, December 6, 2019

A man reads a copy of the day's newspaper whose front page shows a photo of suspected suicide bomber Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi in Amman January 9, 2010. A Pakistan television station on Saturday showed what it said was the suicide bomber double agent who killed CIA agents in Afghanistan sitting with the Pakistani Taliban leader, and reported he shared U.S. and Jordanian state secrets with militants. REUTERS/Ali Jarekji (JORDAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CRIME LAW POLITICS) - GM1E6191K0J01

The remarkable case of the triple agent and the bombing in Khost, Afghanistan

Friday, December 6, 2019

A Myanmar border guard police officer stands guard in front of the remains of a house burned down in a clash between suspected militants and security forces in Tin May village, Buthidaung township, northern Rakhine state, Myanmar July 14, 2017. Picture taken July 14, 2017. REUTERS/Simon Lewis - RC17166738A0

Peace and war in Myanmar

Friday, December 6, 2019

BBC presenter Nick Robinson speaks in front of Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price, former Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas, Labour Party's shadow business secretary Rebecca Long Bailey, Conservative Party's Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rishi Sunak, Brexit Party chairman Richard Tice, SNP leader and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson before a general election debate in Cardiff, Britain November 29, 2019. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/Pool - RC27LD97TG7M

Britain goes to the polls in a high-stakes election

Thursday, December 5, 2019

A Ukrainian national flag flies over the parliament building (Verkhovna Rada) during a parliament session to review a proposal by President Petro Poroshenko to introduce martial law for 60 days after Russia seized Ukrainian naval ships off the coast of Russia-annexed Crimea, in Kiev, Ukraine, November 26, 2018. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich - RC1BD2505A10

Why care about Ukraine and the Budapest Memorandum

Thursday, December 5, 2019

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