Biden to Face Long List of Foreign Challenges, With China No. 1

posted in: News, United States

President Trump will be handing Joseph R. Biden Jr. a difficult cleanup act in America’s relations with many countries. But it may not take much for Mr. Biden to improve the mood. President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is inheriting a … Read More

Erdoğan has managed the unthinkable: uniting all the other Middle East rivals

posted in: Middle East, News

Turkey’s Syria invasion following the US withdrawal of its troops means that all bets are now off in the Middle East. Smoke billows from targets in Tel Abyad, Syria, during bombardment by Turkish forces. Photograph: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP By invading northern … Read More

Russian airstrikes in southwest Syria signal escalation of regime offensive

posted in: News, Russia

Russia has carried out its first airstrikes in southwest Syria in support of an Assad regime offensive. The battlefield space is one of the most geopolitically complex and explosive in the seven-year war. Russian warplanes pounded opposition areas in southwest … Read More

Israel and Hezbollah Are Girding for War—and the Next Round Could Be Horrific

posted in: Israel, News

Hezbollah has been steadily consolidating power and weapons—and some fighters maintain it played a role in shooting down an Israeli jet over Syria. Israeli security officers survey the wreckage of an F-16 that crashed near the Harduf kibbutz, in northern … Read More

Can the EU save the Iran nuclear deal?

European leaders must continue to resist US pressures to isolate Iran. Earlier this month, for the first time since the signing of the nuclear deal, Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, has blamed the EU for “appeasing” the US [Francois Lenoir/Reuters] … Read More

Israel squares off for showdown with Iran in Syria

posted in: Israel, News

Israel has viewed Iran’s growing footprint in neighbouring Syria with alarm [File: Omar Sanadiki/Reuters] A surge in Israeli-Syrian cross-border incidents has turned into the “biggest” confrontation between the two countries in decades, and confronted Russia with a new dilemma: how to preserve … Read More

With sharp words and stealth strikes, Israel sends a message to Hezbollah and U.S.

Israel’s military carried out a massive exercise in September simulating conflict with Hezbollah, the largest drill in nearly two decades. (Jalaa Marey/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images) JERUSALEM — Israel has flexed its military muscles in recent months as the regional balance of power … Read More