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In an atmosphere of panic over the Covid-19 crisis, European governments are enacting more and more open-ended measures that are often of dubious utility for containing the pandemic but severely restrict personal freedom, privacy and entrepreneurship. Alarmingly, citizens’ rights enshrined in constitutions are being set aside.

China’s recent moves to secure supply chains, win over allies and beef up its military made it clear that it saw conflict with the West as a possibility. Now, its new five-year plan will develop policies meant to insulate it from the possible negative effects of the great power competition. ...

Shortly after Democratic candidate Joe Biden declared victory, European states began expressing their hope of a new era in transatlantic relations. However, the nature of U.S.-EU ties is unlikely to undergo a profound change. A Biden presidency will also have its downsides. President Trump’s style might have made him unpopular ...

Faced with China’s emerging hegemony in Asia, India is striving to defend its regional power status. New Delhi’s strategy is to invest in defense, align its policies with the United States and expand its regional alliances. However, it is increasingly concerned with becoming contained by China.

The world is focused on the pandemic and the U.S. elections, and the dire scenarios many say they will bring. While both are important, it is crucial to understand that reacting with alarm will only lead to bad outcomes. Not considering solutions in a levelheaded manner puts individual freedoms at ...

With the recent disturbances in neighboring countries, Moscow is likely to be mapping a long-term course of action to protect its interests and keep rivals as far as possible from its borders. President Putin has taken the West by surprise on several occasions. Unless a more pragmatic approach to Russia ...

The Covid-19 pandemic has delayed the eradication of poverty in the developing world, which had been diminishing at a rapid rate earlier. The crisis also has strained the weakened and mismanaged economies in the West. To solve these issues, many are proposing unwise economic policies supported by manipulated data.

With a new report on the rule of law in the European Union, leaders and officials within the bloc have again taken to criticizing member states. They should take a look in the mirror, as the EU’s institutions and leading countries often flout the rules themselves. This hypocritical arrogance undermines ...

The recent skirmishes along the Indo-Chinese borders are part of a larger regional conflict driven by Beijing’s desire to establish its dominance throughout Asia. Because so many crucial geostrategic points are located across the Himalayas – including access to several major waterways – military tension is bound to escalate.

Modern-day iconoclasts are removing objects and symbols of Western civilization as part of moralistic campaigns. By doing so, they are falsifying history and attacking the very foundation of democracy.

Intervention in elections, whether by foreign or domestic actors, is nothing new. The enormous amount of political energy spent on denouncing such practices and accusing the other side of benefiting from them impedes solving more important problems. Today’s emphasis on such allegations is dangerously paralyzing politics and serves as an ...

In the aftermath of the Chinese Communist Party’s harsh crackdown on Hong Kong’s independence, many observers believe Taiwan will now face increased pressure from Beijing to fall in line with the political and economic goals of mainland China. While the West has done little in response to the Hong Kong ...

Discoveries of rich hydrocarbon deposits under the Eastern Mediterranean seabed have added a new driver to the region’s old rivalries. Athens claims nearly all of the Aegean Sea as exclusive economic zone and the delineation of sea borders near Cyprus prompted Turkey’s reaction. Now, NATO and the European Union have ...

As the number of coronavirus infections rises across Europe, many governments, including Germany’s, are considering implementing a second lockdown. But another shutdown of Europe’s largest economy could be disastrous and have far-reaching effects throughout the continent.

In their struggle to oppose a corrupt, Iranian-backed government, the Lebanese have received little help from the West. In the aftermath of the explosion of August 4, more than financial assistance will be needed. Peace will remain elusive as long as the United States and Europe tolerate Iranian interventions in ...

Moscow and Beijing may prefer one U.S. presidential candidate over the other, but it is unlikely that either power would be able to influence the outcome of the U.S. electoral process in a significant way.

It is hardly a coincidence that a new monument of Karl Marx, the creator of socialist philosophy, was erected with great pomp in the city of his birth in 2018. Marxist thinking has been undergoing a renaissance for all sorts of wrong reasons, including in academic and political circles. Beware, ...

The U.S. secretary of state calls the task of finding more creative and assertive ways to contain China the “mission of our time” for the Western world. The challenge is not going to be easy as the Chinese Communist Party has taken clues from the failures of the former Soviet ...

Europe is not a house where everyone lives under the same rules, but a village in which all the houses work together. At least, that was the original vision. Today however, harmonization, under the guise of deeper integration, is the dominant philosophy, a dogma being used to silence dissent and ...

In reaction to a new national security law giving the Chinese government extensive powers over Hong Kong, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has offered residents of the former British colony an opportunity to settle in the United Kingdom. The gesture was a welcome show of leadership amid half-hearted reactions from other ...

Once a staunch defender of financial responsibility in the eurozone, Germany has thrown its support behind the European Commission’s ill-conceived, unwarranted and politicized spending scheme to aid the eurozone’s economy.

The WHO has arrogantly chastised the Swedish government’s policy of seeking herd immunity instead of trying to suppress contagion. The Swedes’ approach, however, may pay off during the pandemic’s second wave predicted by many experts.

Some leaders like to talk up Europe’s so-called values when it suits their purposes. But some EU member states, and often Brussels, apply these “values” inconsistently – unpragmatically extending sanctions on Russia, for example, but refusing to stand up to Iran or China. Europe needs realpolitik and long-term strategy in ...

This month, Hungary commemorated the centennial anniversary of the Treaty of Trianon, which handed 72 percent of its land to neighboring states. While Hungarians have every right to reflect on the unfairness of the peace terms, this year’s ceremony has taken place amid much criticism from Western member states of ...