All World Affairs Content
10 Feb 2016
Moscow on the Tigris: Russia Joins the Terror Nexus
Michael J. Totten | essay
While an exhausted United States simply wishes international migraines like the Syrian civil war would just go away, Russia is energized by the prospect of filling the vacuum. 30 Aug 2013
Dispatch from Armenia: The Not So Frozen War
Katya Cengel | essay
Some “little wars” deserve greater attention. The so-called frozen conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which is pushing Armenia closer to Iran, is one of them. 26 Feb 2014
Letter from Cuba: To Embargo or Not
Michael J. Totten | essay
Is the US embargo against Cuba a Cold War relic or an effective tool? A recent visit suggests that the Castro regime’s tyrannical imbecility still justifies continued sanctions. 5 Oct 2015
From the Archive: Prophets and Poseurs
The Editors | essay
“The predicaments in which the United States finds itself enmeshed today,” Andrew Bacevich wrote in 2008, “demand that we let Niebuhr speak for himself.” It is still the case now. 
Sea Power: The Rise of the Aircraft Carrier in the Asia-Pacific
Sarosh Bana | essay
With China’s maritime aggression provoking a regional arms buildup, countries from India to Japan and South Korea to Australia are rushing to buy and build aircraft carriers. 17 Sep 2012
The Looming WMD Crisis in Syria
Carol E. B. Choksy | essay
As warfare and instability continue to rattle Syria, the possibility that terrorists could acquire the regime's chemical and biological weapons is getting disturbingly more likely. 29 Sep 2014
ISIS Jihadists Returning to Europe
Olivier Guitta | essay
The Islamic State didn’t initially target the West, but that has changed—and hundreds of jihadists will soon be returning home with their European passports. 3 Jan 2012
Arab Spring or Islamist Winter?
Hussain Abdul-Hussain | essay
Last year was not the first time Arabs called for change in the face of stubborn autocrats, but it was the first time their calls paid off—at least initially. 18 Jan 2016
Slovakia’s Illiberal Future?
Dalibor Rohac | essay
Though there are few immigrants in Slovakia, Prime Minister Robert Fico is manipulating the issue to distance himself, his party, and country from Europe's mainstream and western values. 31 Dec 2011
Syria’s Regime Involved in the Damascus Bombings?
Michael Weiss | essay
Last Friday’s “suicide bombing” of government buildings in Syria is looking more and more suspicious with each passing day. 12 Feb 2016
Four Reasons Why the Syria Cease-fire Won't Work
Ulrich Speck | essay
The so-called Syria cease-fire agreement is a poorly disguised diplomatic ruse by the Kremlin to break down Western unity and resolve as it accomplishes its brutal ends in Syria and Ukraine. 17 Jun 2014
Year Four: The Arab Spring Proved Everyone Wrong
Michael J. Totten | essay
Tunisia surprised the pessimists, just as Egypt devastated the optimists. Syria is on its way to becoming another Afghanistan, while Morocco holds some hope for slow reform. 1 Mar 2015
Let Iraq Die: A Case for Partition
Michael J. Totten | essay
The violence set off by the Islamic State has once again dispelled the myth of a unified Iraq. For those living there, and the outside powers hoping stability will prevail, division is the best option. 5 Oct 2015
Iranian Devolution: Tehran Fights the Digital Future
Ilan Berman | essay
In the wake of the Green Movement and the Arab Spring, the Iranian government has undertaken a major effort to isolate the Islamic Republic’s cyberspace from the outside world. 10 Feb 2016
The Ukraine Example: Nuclear Disarmament Doesn’t Pay
Andreas Umland | essay
Washington’s failure to fulfill its explicit security assurances in exchange for Ukraine dismantling its nuclear arsenal has greatly undermined US credibility and global nonproliferation. 1 Sep 2009
Restraining Order: For Strategic Modesty
Harvey Sapolsky | essay
The world may still need a lot of help, but as Harvey Sapolsky and his colleagues argue, it's time that we divvy up some of the work among our allies. 10 Feb 2016
After the Shake-Up: Rhetoric vs. Reform in Sri Lanka
Taylor Dibbert | essay
The window for Washington to walk back some of its soaring rhetoric about Sri Lanka and instead focus on helping push the country toward real change is quickly closing. 29 Dec 2015
Democracy's Retreats and Tentative Advances in 2015
Carl Gershman | essay
2015 saw important, yet fragile, democratic gains around the world. But, as the West is now preoccupied with domestic challenges, the future of democratic reform will be determined by those on the frontlines.
5 Jan 2015
The Big Chill: The Battle for Central Europe
Peter Pomerantsev | essay
Those who see Vladimir Putin’s expansionism as a regional problem miss the point: the Kremlin’s strategic goal is to degrade transatlantic ties, not just dominate neighboring lands. 31 Oct 2014
Dispatch from Vietnam: Will the US Foster a Natural Ally?
Michael J. Totten | essay
Nearly forty years after the war, most Vietnamese welcome friendly ties with America. With tensions mounting between Hanoi and Beijing, Vietnam is Washington’s to lose. 1 Mar 2011
AfPak 2020: A Symposium
Victor Davis Hanson | essay
Where will Afghanistan and Pakistan be in ten years if the US continues on its current course? We put the question to a group of experts. Their answers might surprise you. 2 Jul 2015
Continental Drift: Europe at a Crossroads
Michael Zantovsky | essay
The future of the EU depends on its leaders adapting to harsh realities—such as the fact that the bigger and more integrated the union gets, the less appealing it seems to be to its citizens. 1 Jan 2011
The No-Show: Why Values Should Have Mattered in Iraq
Melik Kaylan | essay
The US took its blood and treasure to Iraq to topple a tyrant and build a democracy. But it forgot its most appealing asset, its liberal cultural values, allowing lesser forces to fill the void. 26 Feb 2014
China and Russia: An Axis of Weak States
Gordon G. Chang | essay
Economic weakness has driven Vladimir Putin’s Russia into a “strategic entente” with the Chinese, who in turn get a powerful global ally. The alliance could prove formidable for the West. 28 Jun 2013
Islamic Terror: Decentralized, Franchised, Global
Joel Brinkley | essay
As President Obama scales back on the War on Terror, al-Qaeda and its mutations have decentralized and spread, and by now are poised to strike in unexpected places. 30 Dec 2012
Bibi’s Bomb: The Iranian Threat Is No Joke
Alan Johnson | essay
Perhaps Benjamin Netanyahu’s cartoon bomb at the UN was a trifle silly, but there’s no laughing off the very real prospects for an Iranian nuclear weapon and how the reigning mullahs will use it. 27 Oct 2013
Rights in Russia: Navalny and the Opposition
Michael Weiss | essay
Vladimir Putin’s regime no longer bothers to varnish its relentless campaign to silence dissent, as evidenced by the brazen Soviet-era show trials and tactics used against Aleksei Navalny and others.
1 Sep 2010
The Real Reset: Moscow Refights the Cold War
Stephen J. Blank | essay
Washington thinks it's gotten a fresh start with Moscow. In fact, our old adversary has merely fallen back into its old Cold War habits. 23 Dec 2014
Reaffirming US-European Commitment to Democratic Universalism
Carl Gershman | essay
On the anniversary of Vaclav Havel’s death, President of the National Endowment for Democracy Carl Gershman warns of the creeping threats to historic democratic achievements around the world.
1 Mar 2015
The Breakup: American Foreign Policy in the 1970s
Jordan Michael Smith | essay
When Henry Kissinger came to the White House in 1969, America’s global supremacy was in crisis. A new book recounts how he and the presidents he served fared in these troubled waters. 25 Sep 2015
Undeterred and Defiant, Vladimir Kara-Murza Returns
James S. Denton | essay
We at World Affairs are very pleased to announce that our friend and colleague, Vladimir Kara-Murza , has returned to his weekly blog after prevailing through the enormous challenges of recent months. We are most ...
11 Jan 2015
Editor’s Introduction
James S. Denton | essay
to providing ideological and financial support most notably to far-right ...
5 Oct 2015
The New Cuba Policy: Fallacies and Implications
José Azel | essay
President Obama’s new approach to Cuba reflects a basic misunderstanding of life under the Castro regime—and sends harmful signal to tyrants around the world. 20 Mar 2012
Sudan's Continuing War on Religious Freedom
Leonard A. Leo | essay
Sudan's split with the South last year should have taught Khartoum that violating human rights leads to endless strife and division. 29 Apr 2013
The Game Changer: Syria, Iran, and Kurdish Independence
Oray Egin | essay
The shifting fortunes of Middle Eastern politics have delivered Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan and the country’s Kurds to the brink of a lasting settlement. 5 Jan 2015
State of Mind: A Future Russia
Walter Laqueur | essay
Change will come to today’s nationalistic and conspiratorial Russia, but when, how, and what it will mean are yet unknown in a country whose leaders frequently boast of their nuclear arsenal. 5 Oct 2015
Shattered Hopes: A Farewell to European Arms Control?
Richard Weitz | essay
Even before the Ukraine crisis, European arms control was in trouble. Now, with the tensions raised, existing treaties could easily fail, without any effort made to renew or replace them. 26 Feb 2014
A Losing Game: America’s Postwar Arabists
Jordan Michael Smith | essay
The sentiments of Truman’s State Department toward the Middle East are well documented. Hugh Wilford’s engaging new book convincingly explores similar sentiments in the early CIA. 28 Jun 2013
Terror Data: US vs. UK
Robin Simcox | essay
There’s no single counterterrorism solution, but recent studies of more than a decade of attacks in the US and the UK might reveal patterns that will aid law enforcement going forward. 30 Apr 2015
The New Containment: Undermining Democracy
Christopher Walker | essay
As the West once used containment to halt the spread of communism, the world’s authoritarians now use it to curtail democracy in the hope of guarding their power and spoils. 25 Jun 2014
Defeat ISIS, but Let Iraq Split
Jamsheed K. Choksy | essay
Everyone in the region has known for centuries that Iraq is not a single country, and the question of what will happen to Sunni Iraq in the face of ISIS aggression is now especially dire. 1 Jul 2011
Learning Curve: American Culture and the Muslim World
Peter Skerry | essay
Ten years after 9/11, hearts and minds still matter just as much on the home front as on the battlefield.
16 Apr 2014
Hollande the Hawk? An Unlikely Ally Emerges
Kenneth R. Weinstein | essay
Despite his domestic troubles, President Hollande of France has built upon the robust foreign policy of his predecessor and even been a more committed global leader than Washington at times. 5 Mar 2015
The Kim Regime's Atrocities, and the Road Ahead
Carl Gershman | essay
A powerful UN report gives an authentic accounting of North Korea's systematic abuse of its citizens—and a realistic roadmap on how to stop it. 21 Nov 2014
Senator Calls For Strategy to Confront Putin
Rob Portman | essay
“Events in Ukraine are a direct challenge to the entire U.S.-led international order,” says US Senator Portman in a speech delivered to the Senate. The Ohio senator has called for significant military aid to Ukraine, stressing the importance of ongoing US support.
31 Oct 2014
A Break with Beijing?: Hanoi Considers Its Options
Hai Hong Nguyen | essay
Hanoi’s days of deference to China may be ending—and a new strategic alignment emerging—in the wake of increased tensions between over Beijing’s aggressive maritime claims. 16 Sep 2014
American Conservatives Find Common Cause with Israel
Joshua Muravchik | blog
American conservatives are more pro-Israel than ever, but not for religious reasons: They see Western civilization under assault from radical Islam, just as they once saw it threatened by Communism. 27 Aug 2014
Editor’s Introduction
James S. Denton | essay
of US-Europe relations and the West’s ability to deter Russian aggression. ...
2 Jul 2015
What’s Left?: Social Democrats in Disarray
Alan Johnson | essay
From its embrace of neoliberalism in the 1990s through its failures during the recession to the collapse of British Labor this spring, the European left is in desperate need of a new vision. 31 Oct 2014
The Stubborn South: Why Seoul Needs to Mend Ties with Japan
John Lee | essay
While Tokyo bulks up against Chinese aggression, South Korea insists on prolonging historical grievances with the Japanese. It’s time for Seoul to put strategic interests first. Pages
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