How Russia’s leader has played a weak hand to its fullest, and why the West always seems to be playing catch-up.

Western governments should block private business from helping to finance Russian aggression in Ukraine and Syria.

Party politics has always involved considerable hypocrisy, but the modern Republican Party has taken it to a new level.

The liberal world order is under assault—by the new populists from within and autocrats from without.

The economic roots of populist rage.

A Nineveh Plain Province would help to save minority communities in Iraq and be a model for a more decentralized and secure country.

Japanese influence may make the Filipino President (somewhat) manageable, and keep him from getting too close to Beijing.

Loyalty tests and taboo topics are creeping into Hong Kong’s politics.

Famous photographs become our collective memories.

How a careful study of behind-the-scenes power struggles can open a window into a closed society.