Germany returns artefacts taken from Africa during colonial rule
Priceless artefacts taken from Cameroon, Namibia and Tanzania during colonial times will be returned, Germany says.
Belgium gambles on Congo’s President Tshisekedi
Barbara Moens is a trade reporter at POLITICO Europe. KINSHASA — The Belgian royals’ visit to Congo, which ended earlier this week, was an attempt to grapple with Belgium’s grisly colonial past. But as a consequence, Brussels also ended up embracing — and aiding — Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi, who came to power in an election…
What’s Behind American Decline: Domestic Dysfunction
As the golden light bled from the Los Angeles sky one evening last week, a mariachi band played at a rooftop cocktail party for corporate executives and government officials from a couple dozen countries. They had gathered on the eve of the Summit of the Americas, an every-few-years meeting that would begin in the city…
What NATO Needs to Do Before Finland and Sweden Join
Finland and Sweden have now applied for NATO membership, and the process of bringing them on as full members of the alliance is accelerating into what may become the quickest turnaround ever. Research by international relations scholars (including me) suggests that the alliance needs to work out and agree on a military plan for defending…
Iran’s Leaders Are Scared of the Internet
When Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was running for office, he famously said in a May 2021 televised debate how much he deplored the disruption that Iranian children who play online games experience due to the nation’s poor internet infrastructure and weak signals, arguing that he had plans to boost internet connectivity if elected. He made…
Putin’s World Order Would Be Devastating for Africa
On March 2, member states of the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution that strongly condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The resolution, which was supported by 141 member states, affirmed that “any attempt aimed at the … disruption of the territorial integrity of a State…
A Macron Victory Isn’t Enough
We live in a time of constant upheaval and infuriating inertia. Existential threats to Western democracy abound, but nothing seems to change. With new ideas and technologies transforming the ways we live and work, much of the public seems impatient, urging on change, while the rest demands control and protection. Amid such feverish division, elections…
Why the World Isn’t Really United Against Russia
As Russian President Vladimir Putin’s army reduced one Ukrainian city after another to rubble, crushing civilians caught in apartment blocks and shopping malls under a rain of artillery and missile fire, many observers in the rich world bemoaned the dysfunction of the United Nations for not being able to overcome an obstacle written into its…
The Threat to the West Is Inside the House
Russia’s Vladimir Putin may not occupy Ukraine anytime soon,