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2 months ago | 
foreignaffairs.com | Abigail McGowan |Philip Gordon |Elliott Abrams |Dennis Ross
For decades, the Middle East has been the region where diplomatic aspirations go to die. At least since U.S. President George H. W. Bush left office on the heels of the Gulf War, successive U.S. presidents have, often after fleeting periods of hope, ended up leaving the region in a more perilous state than they found it.
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2 months ago | 
foreignaffairs.com | Abigail McGowan |Joshua Kurlantzick |Emma Ashford |Raphael Cohen
At last week’s Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Brussels, newly minted U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared that the position of the U.S. government was that Ukraine will not join NATO. Although greeted with horror by some in Washington and in European capitals, Hegseth’s remarks were in fact more a public statement of reality than a genuine change in policy.
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2 months ago | 
foreignaffairs.com | Abigail McGowan |Joshua Kurlantzick |Raphael Cohen |Elliott Abrams
As the war in Ukraine reaches its third anniversary, it has increasingly become defined by one particular kind of warfare: strategic bombing. Russia has incessantly targeted Ukraine’s energy grid and attacked population centers near the frontlines using Iskandermissiles and Shahed drones. Ukraine has aimed U.S.-made Army Tactical Missile Systems and a plethora of domestically produced drones at Russian oil depots and weapons manufacturers.
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2 months ago | 
foreignaffairs.com | Abigail McGowan |Joshua Kurlantzick |Maha Yahya |Elliott Abrams
Over the last 15 years, the Middle East has been racked by war, destruction, and displacement. Hundreds of thousands of people have died as fighting raged in Gaza, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. Millions more have fled. The violence has rolled back gains in education, health, and income while laying waste to homes, schools, hospitals, roads, railways, and power grids. The war in Gaza has proved especially devastating, setting back the territory’s socioeconomic indicators to 1955 levels.
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2 months ago | 
foreignaffairs.com | Edward Alden |Abigail McGowan |Dennis Ross |David Makovsky
Donald Trump begins his presidency with ambitions of being a peacemaker. He laid out this vision in his inaugural address, declaring that his administration “will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars we end, and perhaps most importantly, by the wars we never get into.” Later that day, he basked in the success of the hostage cease-fire deal in Gaza, including by bringing the families of Israeli hostages to the inaugural parade.
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2 months ago | 
foreignaffairs.com | Edward Alden |Abigail McGowan |Mitch McConnell |Dennis Ross
In his recent essay, “The Price of American Retreat” (January/February 2025), Senator Mitch McConnell lamented the failures of the Biden administration’s foreign policy and warned that “the response to four years of weakness must not be four years of isolation.” McConnell fears that an American “retreat” would embolden adversaries to advance while forcing allies to cower. His remedy: restore industrial capacity to sustain U.S. military predominance indefinitely.
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2 months ago | 
cfr.org | Abigail McGowan
South China Sea Claims: On November 8, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed two new laws that align the Philippines’ South China Sea claims with the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS). The laws also enshrined the 2016 South China Sea ruling into domestic law, which was issued by The Hague’s international tribunal and affirmed the Philippines’ claims to its territorial waters.
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2 months ago | 
worldpoliticsreview.kinsta.cloud | Joshua Kurlantzick |Abigail McGowan
Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party has long been famous for never losing an election, winning every vote since the city-state became independent in 1965. To be sure, in the past the PAP won by tilting the playing field in its favor before Election Day, and to some extent it still does so today. But rather than using obvious and outright authoritarian tactics to win votes, the PAP has shifted toward using subtler means.
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Jan 23, 2025 | 
worldpoliticsreview.com | Joshua Kurlantzick |Abigail McGowan
Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party has long been famous for never losing an election, winning every vote since the city-state became independent in 1965. To be sure, in the past the PAP won by tilting the playing field in its favor before Election Day, and to some extent it still does so today. But rather than using obvious and outright authoritarian tactics to win votes, the PAP has shifted toward using subtler means.
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Jan 21, 2025 | 
cfr.org | Joshua Kurlantzick |Abigail McGowan
Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) has been renowned for its unbroken streak of election victories since the island state gained independence. Historically, and to some extent even today, the PAP has secured these wins by creating favorable conditions before Election Day. More From Our Experts Rather than using obvious and outright authoritarian tactics to win votes, the PAP has used subtler means.
