The Xinjiang delegation at the 2019 National People's Congress (Reuters) By Alison O'Neil A Tense July: The US Sanctions XPCC Recent events in Xinjiang – along with other domestic and foreign policy decisions encompassing everything from cybersecurity to maritime law to tensions over Taiwan and Hong Kong – have shifted the global conversation on China … Continue reading What Could the XPCC Sanctions Mean for Xinjiang and the US?
Image: CNS photo/Paul Haring By Andrew Jarocki “Blessed are the peacemakers,for they will be called children of God.”– Matthew 5:9 “The Pope?” scoffed Stalin, “And how many divisions does he have?” It is tempting to dismiss the Vatican, a tiny city state entirely reliant on moral suasion, as irrelevant in this era of renewed great … Continue reading Blessed Are the Dealmakers?
Image: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters By Solomon Bennett The foreign policy priorities outlined during the RNC reflect a foreign policy of contradictions. The tendencies of President Trump and the Republican Party—distain for federal government, friendliness with powerful moneyed interests, and policies of austerity and privatization—are increasingly incongruent with national priorities both domestically and internationally. In 2016, President … Continue reading Foreign Policy at the RNC: Crisis and Contradiction
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, with a virtually present Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany (Getty Images) By Zack Blumberg As its leaders try to push ahead with grand ambitions, the EU is waylaid by itself. When Germany officially assumed the European Union (EU) Council presidency on June 1 of this year, its … Continue reading In the COVID era, the EU is its own stumbling block
Image from AFP By Samuel Leiter On Sunday, Iranian officials confirmed that an explosion on July 2nd was caused by sabotage, but declined to reveal the culprit saying “how this explosion took place and with what materials ... will be announced by security officials in due course.” In July, a previously unknown group called the … Continue reading Iran Confirms Recent Natanz Attacks Were Sabotage as Cyberwar with Israel Appears to be Escalating
Joe Biden delivers his nomination acceptance speech at the socially distanced Democratic National Convention August 20, 2020 (NBC News) By Solomon Bennett The 2020 Democratic National Convention and the release of the 2020 Democratic Party Platform signify a number of critical steps that the United States can take to repair the damage wrought by the … Continue reading A Crossroads of Vision at the DNC
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and de facto leader of the UAE By Ethan Kessler Last week, in a small ceremony in the Oval Office, Israel signed a treaty with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), normalizing relations between the two Middle Eastern powers. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also … Continue reading What Does the UAE-Israel Treaty Mean for the Middle East?
The Committee on Moral Books, Jehan Georges Vibert (1840-1902) By Realist Review writers and staff It’s been a long summer, made longer still by the synchronous cataclysms of pandemic, economic collapse, social unrest and the ongoing international scourge of scary-looking murder hornets. What to do? Lay on the couch and read, of course! Our writers … Continue reading Realist Review’s Pandemic Reading List
An anti-Lukashenko rally at the Belarusian embassy in Moscow, August 11, 2020. Picture by David Saveliev By Zack Blumberg, contributor Over the course of the past week, protests have engulfed the small nation of Belarus. Frustrated citizens coalesced around the campaign of upstart presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and have come out in force to voice … Continue reading In Belarus, Europe’s last dictator faces a reckoning
By Ethan Kessler Last week, it was revealed that Saudi Arabia has built a facility for extracting uranium yellowcake from uranium ore, a key first step in producing nuclear fissile material. Riyadh’s diplomatic statements notwithstanding, it has been obvious for some time that the Gulf kingdom was eyeing a nuclear option. After all, the Saudis’ … Continue reading Saudi Nukes and the Limits of Nonproliferation
