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March 03, 2025
 

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Marc Champion
French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. President Donald Trump meet at the White House on Monday. The French leader has been forced to appease Trump knowing Europe is unprepared to defend itself without U.S. support.
COMMENTARY
Feb 26, 2025
America is turning its alliances into a protection racket
Trump has no compunction in using his leverage as a global security provider for extortion of allies.
U.S. President Donald Trump's approach to ending Russia’s war in Ukraine appears to prioritize re-establishing U.S.-Russia relations over securing a fair settlement for Ukraine.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 25, 2025
Ukraine is just a pawn in a Russian reset
Donald Trump's approach makes U.S. actions more logical, but no less shameful.
Donald Trump’s demand for Ukrainian resources in exchange for aid may be unseemly, but Europe should accept it as the price of keeping the U.S. engaged in Ukraine and Europe's defense.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 14, 2025
Trump’s resource grab in Ukraine is a price worth paying
Europe shouldn’t complain. This is a cost of its defense failures.
Gaza’s reconstruction is needed, but U.S. President Donald Trump’s approach — framing it as a business deal without addressing Palestinian political aspirations — makes little sense as foreign policy.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 6, 2025
Trump’s ‘Gaza Riviera’ scheme may be more than a fantasy
It’s tempting to dismiss Donald Trump’s bid to take over Gaza as just another wild proposal, designed more to change the conversation and wrong-foot negotiating partners than as policy.
Demonstrators in Rabat, Morocco, on Thursday show support for Palestinians following the news of a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Hamas and Israel.
COMMENTARY
Jan 17, 2025
Gaza ceasefire deal is a win for Trump
Donald Trump secured a Gaza ceasefire by pressuring Israel into an agreement, but achieving a lasting peace will depend on resolving deeper regional issues.
The myth that the West provoked Russian aggression in Ukraine overlooks Russia's expansionist history, the complex dynamics of NATO expansion and the true nature of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2025
What you think you know about Ukraine is probably wrong
It’s more important than ever to fact check the Kremlin's claims and excuses for the war
A Ukrainian tank is stationed near a sign that reads, "Pokrovsk," in the country's Donetsk region, on Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 17, 2024
Europe needs to swiftly fulfill its aid pledges to Ukraine
Europe has committed significant aid to Ukraine, but delays in delivery, especially in military support, are hindering Ukraine’s defense against Russia.
Georgian anti-government protesters face off against police during consecutive days of mass demonstrations against the government's postponement of European Union accession talks in central Tbilisi on Dec. 3.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2024
Georgia has crossed a Russian Rubicon
A tipping point came last week when authorities in the capital Tbilisi sent masked police to raid the headquarters of opposition parties.
The fall of Aleppo in Syria to political chaos in Tbilisi, Georgia, and even recent events in Paris, give us a glimpse of a possible post-American new world disorder.
COMMENTARY
Dec 4, 2024
Welcome to the post-American new world disorder
From Aleppo in Syria, to Tbilisi, Georgia, and even Paris, last weekend gave us a glimpse of a possible post-American new world disorder.
A resident walks past destruction caused by Israeli bombardment in a neighborhood of Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday, a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2024
The Lebanon ceasefire can be leveraged for a broader deal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already said he sees the ceasefire as a pause in which to increase pressure on Hamas in Gaza and to rearm.
This screen grab released on Oct. 26 by the Israeli military shows one of its air force planes departing to carry out strikes on Iran.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 27, 2024
Israel’s strike on Iran was smart. Now take the win.
Both Iran and Israel need to reconsider their aggressive postures to prevent a devastating regional conflict.
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a Security Council meeting in Moscow on Sept. 25 where he called for changes to rules on the use of Russia's nuclear deterrent.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 18, 2024
Putin's nuclear doctrine isn't his worst threat
These kinds of signals should be seen as weapons in and of themselves, which makes it vital to distinguish between what’s real and feigned.
People take shelter on Tuesday during an air raid in central Israel after Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles at the country. Iran has targeted Israel twice in recent months with little to show for its efforts, risking further loss of credibility in the region.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2024
Iran’s missile salvo was yet another strategic blunder
The intended message was clear — we don’t want a real war, but if it comes to one, look what we can do. And yet the attack projected weakness instead.
Smoke billows over southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike amid the ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces on Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 26, 2024
In Lebanon, Israel set a trap for Iran and itself
Unable to rescue hostages or eliminate Hamas after nearly a year of war, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu expanded the fight to target Hezbollah and Iran.
Lebanese soldiers and civilians inspect the site of an Israeli strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2024
Israel’s plans for Hezbollah are becoming clearer
No ground invasion is imminent; instead, the aim appears to be to degrade Hezbollah to the point where it’s incapable of continuing the rocket and missile attacks.
U.S. Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman attends the annual Pride march in Budapest on June 22.
COMMENTARY
Sep 20, 2024
What does America stand for? The world no longer knows.
Pressman argues that Orban is miscalculating by betting on Trump’s return to power and warns of a shift in U.S.-Hungary relations if Kamala Harris becomes president.
A soldier stands guard near the American University of Beirut Medical Center after as many as 2,800 people, including Hezbollah fighters and medics, were wounded when the pagers they use to communicate exploded across Lebanon on Tuesday
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 18, 2024
Hezbollah pager attack looks like a decapitation strike
The sophisticated nature of the attack, involving the insertion of explosive material into pagers, suggests a high level of intelligence and planning.
While nuclear weapons are difficult to use without catastrophic consequences, Vladimir Putin’s rhetoric aims to frighten Ukraine's allies into halting arms support.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 9, 2024
How to read Putin’s next nuclear threat
Historical analogies show that nuclear threats rarely succeed, but Russia’s signals of desperation should not be ignored.
A poll shows that many Israelis support expanding the war to confront Hezbollah in Lebanon, though this poses risks of involving Iran and other international actors.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2024
Should Israel want a bigger conflict with Iran now?
A poll shows that many Israelis support expanding the war to confront Hezbollah, though this poses risks of involving Iran and other international actors.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius inspects Leopard II tanks that were due to be supplied to Ukraine at a military facility in Augustdorf, Germany, in February 2023.
COMMENTARY
Aug 27, 2024
Ukraine has a Germany problem again. Here’s how to fix it.
Kyiv’s Kursk operation was aimed less at the battlefield than at Berlin and other allies.
Seven & I and Nissan deal fallout leaves Japan companies vulnerable
The rapid collapse of the plan to take Seven & I private reflects how personal egos and domestic competitiveness ultimately outweighed the nationalistic desire to fend off Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard, whose pursuit of the Japanese retailer emerged last August.
Aboard Japan’s most luxurious train, the journey is the destination
The luxury Seven Stars in Kyushu train trades the hyper-efficiency of typical rail travel in Japan for a slower, more decadent version.
China’s military puts Pacific on notice as U.S. priorities shift
A photo released by the Australia Defense Force showed an Australian Navy ship in the foreground and two Chinese navy ships in the Tasman Sea in February.
Europe's nightmare is here: They have to fight Putin without the U.S.
Ukrainian servicemen play with dogs at their position on a front line in the nation's Zaporizhzhia region on Feb. 21.
Japan struggles to fend off a world without enough matcha
Once a boon to tea farmers' bottom lines, the global matcha craze is now pushing producers and distributors to their limits with few options to adequately meet demand.
Japan’s climate heroes show potential and limits of local initiatives
Hidetaka Ishii, an official at the Chiba Municipal Government, says close coordination with private-sector operators is key for regional decarbonization efforts.
Aboard Japan’s most luxurious train, the journey is the destination
The luxury Seven Stars in Kyushu train trades the hyper-efficiency of typical rail travel in Japan for a slower, more decadent version.
Taiwan comics on the rise: Local storytellers, global aspirations
Taiwanese comic artist Rishiazao and interpreter Yun-wen Huang greet an attendee at the 2025 Angouleme International Comics Festival in France.
Not even Japan is safe from counterfeit luxury goods
While Japan's luxury goods market remains strong, its seconhand resale market is proving just as much a draw for tourists searching for great bargains — as long as they can manage to get their hands on the real deal.
Nils Nielsen's vision for Nadeshiko Japan comes to life at SheBelieves Cup
Nadeshiko Japan celebrates after winning the SheBelieves Cup in San Diego on Wednesday.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Pedestrians commute through Shibuya Station in central Tokyo, an area that is almost never devoid of people.
As the rest of Japan shrinks, Tokyo grows
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Supporting women’s social participation is Cartier’s commitment
Supporting women’s social participation is Cartier’s commitment

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