Idealpolitik vs. Realpolitik
The Foreign Policy Debate We Need

How to temper idealism with the demands of responsible statecraft—without abandoning our commitment to democracy and human rights? This is the question facing America’s foreign policy hands as they look beyond the Trump presidency.

(Wikimedia Commons)
Bye Bye Beijing
Is China About to Lose Taiwan for Good?

If current projections hold, Beijing will be the big loser in Taiwan’s presidential election this Saturday—and the United States will have a golden opportunity.

(Wikimedia Commons)
Dying Light
A Root Cause of Illiberalism?

A new book by Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes offers a provocative—if not entirely persuasive—answer.

(Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
Untragic Nation
Hyman Bloom and the Art of Dying Well

In our death-fearing age, the artwork of a Jewish-American master—overlooked in his own time but the subject of a new exhibit at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts—has much to teach us.

Volodymyr Zelensky as Vasyl Petrovych Holoborodko in Servant of the People
Dangerous Neglect
A Rough Start in 2020 to U.S.-Ukraine Relations

This is the second time Secretary Pompeo has cancelled a trip to the country, leaving its embattled president high and dry.

© Getty Images
Grand Strategy Lesson
Why Is Russia in Syria?

To be a European great power, Russia needs to be a player in the Mediterranean—and it is gradually but steadily becoming one.

A Conversation with Branko Milanovic
The Future of Global Prosperity

In the conflict between capitalism and communism, capitalism won. But its triumph didn’t herald the end of history—just the next phase of it.

History Lesson
A Jew’s Guide to New Year’s Eve

As everyone knows, the evening of December 31 is New Year’s Eve. But why is December 31 New Year’s Eve? And why is the next year the number 2020?

Resilience and Fragility
Will the American Global Order Survive Donald Trump?

Almost certainly it will—for now. But Donald Trump is not the sole cause of its recent travails, and its long-term perpetuation is anything but assured.

Composite by Danielle Desjardins (clockwise from top left: The Irishman, Parasite, A Hidden Life)
Year In Review
The Top Ten Films of 2019

Amid all the tentpoles and remakes, some genuine cinematic imagination found its way onto screens large and small this year.

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