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Why US hegemony is incompatible with a ‘rules-based international order’

A bad argument for invading the Solomon Islands reflects the inherent conflict between America’s dominance and its purported liberal values. There is no shortage of bad ideas circulating in U.S. foreign policy discourse. On occasion, however, a particularly poor argument can be helpful insofar as it reveals something noteworthy about …

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Official Close to Hezbollah Assassinated in Damascus Countryside

Unknown individuals assassinated the commander of the Baath Brigades, a close figure to the Lebanese Hezbollah party, in the countryside of Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Monday. The official was assassinated in recent Israeli shelling in the Damascus countryside, said the Observatory.

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History As It Happens: Ayman al-Zawahiri and the future of al Qaeda

One year after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan ended America’s nation-building project in the “graveyard of empires,” the Taliban-led country faces mass starvation and state collapse. Amidst that cauldron of human misery is what remains of al Qaeda, the terrorist group whose jihadist violence led the U.S. into Afghanistan way …

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Iraqis heed cleric’s plea to leave streets after clashes

Armed supporters of a powerful Iraqi cleric who clashed with security forces in the capital began to withdraw from the streets Tuesday, restoring a measure of calm after a serious escalation of the nation’s political crisis. Following two days of deadly unrest that sparked fears instability might spread throughout the …

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Afghanistan’s Women Are on Their Own

How the International Community Turned Its Back Life under the Taliban is the worst women’s rights crisis on the planet. When the Taliban returned to power last August, they imposed immediate and brutal restrictions, the harshest of which were reserved for women. They quickly imposed a ban on girls’ secondary …

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Beijing’s Debts Come Due

How a Burst Real-Estate Bubble Threatens China’s Economy The Chinese real estate sector is teetering. The largest private Chinese developer has defaulted on its external bonds. Most developers are struggling to refinance their domestic bonds. Home prices have gone down for the last 11 months. New construction is down 45 …

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Iran Successfully Implements Advanced Uranium Enrichment Program, IAEA Report Says

Iran has successfully implemented advanced uranium enrichment program, with the first of its cascades of advanced IR-6 centrifuges operating at its Natanz underground fuel enrichment plant, Reuters first reported, citing a report by the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. The report comes as the world powers, …

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Egypt to issue bonds in China’s currency yuan

The US dollar may be losing its dominance in the Middle East to the yuan. Egypt has decided to issue bond’s denominated in China’s currency, the yuan. Egyptian Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said at a press conference today that Egypt will issue $1.5 and $2 billion’s worth of the yuan-denominated …

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Iran urges dialogue amid Iraq turmoil

Iranian authorities have called on Iraqi factions to seek political solutions as Baghdad streets saw deadly clashes between members of the Shiite Sadrist movement and their Tehran-backed rivals. Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said constitution-based dialogue among political blocs was the only path toward stability and security in Iraq, where the …

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