NEED TO KNOW The Wizard's Curtain The Kremlin has done its best to project an image of a resurgent, vigorous Russia striding across the world stage under the steady hand of strongman Vladimir Putin. Thanks to Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula and its prominent role in the...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW The Wheel of Fortune Hundreds of thousands flocked to see Senator Barack Obama when he spoke in Berlin in 2008. In the twilight of George W. Bush’s administration, the first African-American to receive a major American political party’s endorsement was a breath of fresh air...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Umbrellas and Oaths When Britain ceded Hong Kong to China in 1997, Beijing promised not to compromise the “one country, two systems” regime governing the city for 50 years. But now the definition of those freedoms is up for grabs. At issue is Beijing’s decision last week...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Pulling Apart President-Elect Donald Trump divided America. Now he’s dividing Europe. European Union foreign ministers met on Sunday to talk about Trump. Europe’s top diplomats usually hold special meetings to discuss crises like Russia invading Crimea. So sounding alarms after an American election is unprecedented. But,...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Divided, We Fall President-Elect Donald Trump doesn’t have much in common with Nelson Mandela. But he'll need to borrow a trick or two from the revolutionary-turned-statesman – as well as the leaders of other fractured societies – to heal the deep divide he helped...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Shock in Mexico, Smiles in Moscow Americans weren't the only ones shocked on Wednesday when it became clear that New York real estate mogul and reality television show star Donald Trump was going to be president of the United States. "A civilized and democratic world...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Challenges and Black Swans Domestically, President-elect Donald Trump has the tough job of reuniting the nation after one of the most divisive general elections in American history. Internationally, the picture is no better. A CNN analysis predicted President Trump next year would confront not only "black...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW No Joy Here Election Day is weird for expatriate Americans. Observing from abroad, and often spending lots of time explaining American politics to foreign friends and neighbors who don't necessarily share rosy views of the world's most powerful country, many expats view the matchup between...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW The World is Watching The world is watching the American presidential election more closely – and with more horror, it seems – than ever before. "If Donald Trump wins, it’ll be a new age of darkness," reads the headline of a recent John Freedland column...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Falling Dominoes In the early days of the Cold War, US President Dwight Eisenhower suggested that the loss of Vietnam would lead to the loss of another and another and another nation to communism, like falling dominos. Now, it looks like the Domino Theory may...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW The Invisible Hand Cameroonians donned black and sang religious hymns last month to mourn those who perished in a train derailment that claimed almost 80 lives and injured more than 600 people last month. Identifying the deceased has been an arduous process: The train was...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Of Poeticians and Refresh Buttons Will we look back on Iceland as the beginning of the end for populism? The conservative Independence Party won the most seats in recent elections in Iceland, defying the polls, to defeat the populist Pirate Party, a collection of activists...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Hearts and Minds Moldova is shaping up to become the new Ukraine. The tiny country cleaved from Romania by the Soviet Union after World War II has long been the stage for post-Cold War tensions between East and West. Currently, Russian troops support the breakaway Transnistria...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Of Presidents, Protests and Rasputin South Korea seems to be succumbing to the same crisis of confidence that is undermining other democracies around the world. On Sunday, Choi Soon-sil, a close friend of South Korean President Park Geun-hye, returned to the country from Europe to...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Snake Charmers Some years ago, then-US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a rare, candid rebuke to Pakistan, a country that Washington has sought in vain to establish as a reliable democratic ally in South Asia since the 1950s. "You can’t keep snakes in your...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Tipping Scales African nations were among the most ardent supporters of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague when the institution first opened its doors in 2002. Angry over the unpunished injustices of Apartheid and the Rwandan genocide, the continent welcomed the establishment of...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Carrot, Meet Stick A few months ago, shortly after he became Israel’s defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman said he would adopt a "carrots and sticks" approach to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. We're now seeing what that approach looks like. "We will be the...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW O Wallonia! A region of Belgium with a population of 3.6 million actually can scuttle a trade deal involving almost 550 million people and $70 billion annually. On Monday, Belgium announced that, unlike the other 27 members of the European Union, it could not sign...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW 'The Return of Correct Thinking' It’s a heady time for China's thought leaders. As WikiLeaks – via Russian hackers, allegedly – exposed Hillary Clinton's sidelining of Bernie Sanders from within the Democratic Party and Donald Trump keeps hitting new lows, China is doubling down on...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Filipino Frenemy First a colony of the United States and then one of America’s most reliable allies in Asia, the Philippines has gone rogue. Having insulted US President Barack Obama and hinted that the Philippines would shift its allegiance from Washington to Beijing, on Thursday...
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