RealClearWorld Articles

What is President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s foreign policy plan? That’s a question that few have answers to, but for hundreds of millions of people in the developing world the stakes could not be higher. East Africa faith leaders are raising the alarm. In August, Archbishop Renatus Leonard Nkwande of Mwanza, Tanzania, said the West is “sending us missionaries of evil.”  It is a strange thing for people thousands of miles away to say, yet it is a frequent refrain from Africans, Latin Americans and others frustrated by a White House fixated on the...

Canada felt serious pain when the U.S. closed its borders after 9/11. The Jean Chrétien government of the day reacted with a singular priority: keep Canada’s border with the U.S. open because Canada’s prosperity depends on it. That primarily meant assuring the U.S. that Canada can be trusted on security-related matters. The Chrétien government even introduced a comprehensive Anti-Terrorism Act in a matter of months. Those days are long gone. The Trudeau government’s approach...

This month, millions of Georgias will gather to vote in the parliamentary elections. The stakes could not be higher. Over the past few years, the ruling Georgian Dream party has started to backslide on anticorruption reforms. Members of the ruling party have sought to implement greater surveillance across the country, and they have opted to strengthen their relationship with Russia. This has caused many Georgian citizens to speak out against the ruling party. To date, most Georgians want to see their country become more democratic. They also want their country to become part of the European...

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz recently declared, “Israel is trapping Iran and America.” If that is true, perhaps the U.S. and Iran should cooperate to extricate themselves from that trap. In the wake of the most recent exchange of fire between Israel and Iran, the region is on the cusp of more violence and instability, but who benefits from the chaos? Previously, the Arab Gulf states may have been happy to see Iran distracted from fighting an American ally, but that’s not likely anymore. First came the  China-brokered deal in 2023 that restarted diplomatic relations...

An almost immediate response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine saw hundreds of Western brands declare their opposition and assert a refusal to participate in an economy that directly funds war by pulling out of the country. Over one thousand major companies withdrew from Russia, despite the unavoidable financial costs of doing so, as multiple sanctions isolated the country even further. Yet, deep into the third year of the full-scale war, a considerable number of international brands continue to do business in the warring state and have reneged on their promises to scale back or...

October 7th is the first anniversary of the unprovoked attack and murder of Israeli citizens by Hamas in Gaza.  A year later, kidnapped innocents remained as hostages to Iran's goal of making Israel uninhabitable by Jews, causing the Jewish people to abandon—their country, and driving the United States from the area.  October 7 and the Israeli war must be seen in the context of the global war that we are now in.  As a red-letter date, October 7 should be paired with February 24, the date in 2022 when Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine, to attack Kyiv...

On Sunday, October 6th, Brazilians went to the polls to vote in long-awaited municipal elections. These elections, held between two federal cycles, were seen as a referendum on President Lula's left-wing government and an opportunity to reshape local leadership. Within hours of polling stations closing, the results were clear: the conservative movement was the night's biggest winner. Of Brazil's 26 state capitals, the left-wing parties, led by Lula's Workers' Party (PT), failed to secure a single victory. In key races, the PT was defeated by the Liberal Party (PL), which continues to dominate...

It is no secret that China would like to get out of the first island chain into which it has been hemmed in for decades, or arguably even longer. They have long claimed much of the South China Sea, which includes territory claimed by multiple other states: coastlines, islands, strategically important reefs, and of course, Taiwan. There seems to be no dissuading China from attempting to grab as much of the South China Sea as possible – much like the United States, there is no way that a rising China will wish to be restricted to its backyard. So that makes recent events all the more...

The Palestinian Authority's television channel recently made the startling accusation that the terrorist group Hamas is “taking” humanitarian aid and selling it “at very high prices” to exploit desperate Palestinian civilians.  This came shortly after Israeli media obtained a recording of suspected Hamas members discussing humanitarian aid they stole from Palestinian civilians. The alarming audio captures them saying they have “trucks filled with goods” and that their warehouse is “at full capacity.” Days after that news...

Central to President Reagan's foreign policy was a steadfast commitment to confronting America's greatest ideological rival, the Soviet Union, on the global stage. While parts of the Reagan Doctrine remain contentious, like military aid to Nicaraguan guerillas, his focus on securing supply chains, bolstering alliances, and protecting spheres of influence provides a useful blueprint for addressing today's challenges. Since its collapse in 1991, the People's Republic of China has filled the void left by the Soviet Union and emerged as our primary adversary. While a hostile Russia continues to...

Kamala Harris wants to be president, and she will say whatever it takes to get there. Her go-to solution for the swing states is to adopt poll-tested positions, even if contrary to her values and beliefs. When the best position in one state jeopardizes her standing in another, or jeopardizes support from her large donors, she adjusts her tactics. The Middle East quagmire is such a situation. Harris personally tilts strongly in favor of Palestinians and Iran’s proxies, but Iran’s direct attacks on Israel, and President Joe Biden’s use of the U.S. military to defend Israel,...

A new scientific report on the origins of COVID-19 has renewed debate on exactly what caused the deadliest event of the 21st century. It is the latest in a string of academic papers by a small group of elite scientists arguing that the pandemic was the result of a “natural spillover” event. And like each of its predecessors, the report’s underlying data and conclusions are quickly being debunked by more objective scientists. However, the purpose of the report was likely not to convince but to distract; a ruse to throw off the scent. It was necessary because a...

The death sentences keep coming from Branch 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court. In July, the court’s presiding judge, Iman Afshari, pronounced the dreaded verdict for Pakhshan Azizi, a prominent Iranian women’s rights activist and social worker, who had already spent the previous year in prison. The trumped-up charge: “Rebellion” against the Islamic Republic. The reality: She had angered the theocracy with peaceful activism for human rights. For Judge Afshari, it was a routine day in court. In his six years on the job, he has repeatedly imposed...

When mayhem erupts in the Middle East, the Biden Administration reflexively reaches for the band-aid of a ceasefire as if a small strip could staunch a hemorrhage. For months, the U.S. has invested in a hapless Hamas deal. Yet Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State, resembles the horse in Animal Farm, who pledges after each setback: “I shall work harder.” A U.S. official just confided to the Wall Street Journal: “No deal is imminent. I’m not sure it ever gets done.” Surely not in the weeks to come, as Israel has turned against Hezbollah, which began to rain...

Some topics never die at the United Nations. Calls to expand and reform the Security Council is one of those persistent issues. An amendment increasing its size was adopted only once in 1965. But calls for further expansion were raised again only a few years later. Those subsequent pushes stalled for decades. Yet due partly to a cynical assist from the Biden-Harris administration, that may be about to change. It is understandable why governments -- aside from China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, who all have permanent seats – want to increase the size of...

This week, Azerbaijan held a conference on the “Modern Challenges to the Security of Global Transport Networks.” Over 50 representatives and foreign officials attended the forum. During the event, participants stressed the importance of “expanding information exchange and other areas of interaction” between the participants at the forum so that their countries can adequately address various challenges posed to the world today.   One of the topics of discussion at the forum was the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and how Armenian and Azerbaijani officials can coordinate...

Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign is following a political playbook that has already reshaped a nation – not the United States, but Canada under Justin Trudeau. As someone who has followed politics for decades on both sides of the 49th parallel, I feel a powerful sense of déjà vu watching Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign develop. There are remarkable similarities between Harris’s and Justin Trudeau’s rhetoric during his first successful campaign for prime minister in 2015. It is obvious that the two work in quite different political...

Power abhors a vacuum, the saying goes, so perhaps it’s no surprise that nine Japanese lawmakers—a record high—have declared their candidacy since Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced he would not seek reelection. While Kishida’s decision was not unexpected, given his low poll ratings and ruling party scandals, the abruptness surprised even potential successors who scrambled to respond. The crowded field of qualified contenders, coupled with the dissolution of Japan’s political coalition system, makes predicting Kishida’s successor infinitely more...

 A Wahabi Islamic state which eschews every principle of democracy while actively and openly supporting half a dozen proscribed terrorist organisations, Qatar lies on that fine line which divides America's ‘Axis of evil’ from America’s ‘Major Non-NATO Allies.’ ‘Keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer’ is a popular axiom in Western corridors of power. Those who parrot it may think they stand in the tradition of Prince Metternich or Henry Kissinger or maybe Jesus of Nazareth. But they do not. It was Don Corleone who first uttered the...