Reports

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s party took the largest share of votes in the country’s parliamentary elections, paving the way for him to initiate a new dialogue with Russia. For the West, it presents an opportunity to ratchet down tensions with Moscow and even normalize relations. The alternative – battered economies, ...

India is forging profitable new partnerships with Sunni Arab states as its economic profile grows and its ties with the U.S. and Israel strengthen. The changes are causing tension with its old ally Iran, however, which New Delhi still needs to keep Pakistan in check. This balancing act will only ...

With the recent downing by Iran of a U.S. drone, tensions between the two countries may be entering a new phase. The Trump administration has imposed more sanctions and made new threats, in hopes of getting Iran back to the table for another nuclear deal. The U.S. does not want ...

The fall of President Omar al-Bashir in Sudan can be seen as the demise of just another African strongman. Yet in a large state divided along complex ethnic, religious and political lines, his personalized tyranny made political stability possible. Now that is gone and an internationally mediated transition agreement is ...

Political elites around the world are calling for higher taxes, as well as more centralized, unified systems to ensure as much as possible is collected. Yet populations are increasingly raising the alarm about overly complex or onerous taxes. For years, GIS experts have explained why moves toward higher tax burdens ...

Any sensible person can see that status quo in Crimea is unacceptable, while restoration of the status quo ante is impossible. That means the scope of possibilities is very narrow. When looking for the least bad solution for the conflict between Russia, Ukraine and the West, perhaps two wrongs can ...

In only six years, China’s Belt and Road Initiative has had broad impact across Asia and beyond. Up to $1 trillion has been committed to hundreds of projects, with the goals of bridging economies, opening Chinese companies to foreign markets and changing the landscape of international development finance. Going forward, outside criticism and dynamics at home will likely change the nature of ...

Russia is highly unlikely to respond militarily to a hypothetical U.S. attack on Iran. But Moscow has a wide range of options to make Washington pay a steep price for such a disrupting step, and to uphold its reputation in the Arab world as a reliable business partner and geopolitical ...

The unveiling of the $50 billion U.S. investment plan to secure peace in the Middle East by improving conditions in the West Bank and Gaza met international skepticism, and virulent opposition from the Palestinian authorities. But for President Donald Trump, solving the conflict none of his predecessors could would gain ...

As relations with the West continue to deteriorate, Russia has tried to build a future in which it does not belong to Europe — by looking to Asia. But economic weaknesses, an alienating foreign policy and the rise of China have stunted Russia's pivot to Asia. A reset with Europeans, ...

EU leaders heaved a sigh of relief after May’s European Parliament elections when the much-feared populist wave failed to rock the boat. Yet at most, they have gained a little time. Judging by the tone of the informal summit held in Sibiu, Romania, the EU’s new leadership will favor old ...

History contains many examples of what happens when politicians gain control over the currency. Few of them end well.

After elections in May, Australia’s new government must decide how to balance its ties with the United States and China. The economic relationship with China is paramount, but Australia also has interests in the security of its immediate neighborhood and shares a great deal with the U.S. The trade war ...

As President Evo Morales gears up to run for an unconstitutional fourth term, Bolivian politics enter a pivotal year. The last successful member of Latin America’s “pink wave” of leftist governments that rose to power on the commodities boom of the early 2000s must now deal with slumping hydrocarbon revenues ...

The shale revolution in the United States has transformed the domestic oil industry and global oil markets. Tight oil has both increased supplies and shortened the reaction time of production to prices, with the U.S. industry proving more resilient than many expected. New competition has reduced the leverage of other ...

Corruption can be a catalyst for political change, as in Latin America, or the basis of a rent-seeking regime, as in Russia. But in rare instances, it can also affect the ebb and flow of global geopolitics. This is clearly evident on the rim of the former Soviet Union, where ...

Though most parties in Germany’s parliament support the Nord Stream 2 project, there is far from a consensus within the country: even the government doesn’t have a consistent policy. Still, Berlin sees benefits in having access to more gas supply than it needs, and the project wins votes in regions ...

British Conservatives must pick a new prime minister from two candidates: Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt. With the United Kingdom’s political leadership paralyzed and relations with the EU at an impasse, an enfant terrible might be the better choice.

German-American relations are at a low ebb. As seen from Washington, Germany is consumed by internal political strife and incapable of acting as a reliable partner in transatlantic policy. So, for the next few years at least, the United States intends to manage bilateral relations on a transactional basis. At ...

Like medieval alchemy that failed to turn lead into gold, today’s easy-money folly of central banks and governments will lead to crisis, not economic growth and prosperity. After years of addiction to overspending, neither politicians nor central bankers seem capable of returning to responsible policies. New technologies such as cryptocurrencies, ...

Midway through his term, Chile’s President Sebastian Pinera is facing resistance to his agenda from a hostile congress. His clumsy handling of several domestic crises has not helped his government gain traction. The economy is doing well, though, fueled by copper exports. But that poses a danger as well – ...

The European Union’s ambiguity-ridden system is increasingly hard to sell to populations. Stranded in a no-man’s-land between a federal state and a confederation, today’s EU features neither sound democracy, nor prudent governance, nor a vibrant economy. A true federalist system could go a long way toward addressing these weaknesses, but it ...

Khalifa Haftar, the military leader of one of Libya’s two battling governments, tried to short-circuit a UN-sponsored peace process by launching a lightning offensive against the nation’s capital, Tripoli. Instead of a successful blitzkrieg, however, his overstretched forces found themselves stuck on Tripoli’s outskirts – blocked by a militia cartel ...

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa has helped keep populism in check by “taming” radical leftist parties and including them in his governing “contraption” coalition. He has avoided austerity, making him popular and likely to win October’s elections. After that, he will need to solidify Portugal’s recovery with deeper economic reforms. ...