The views expressed by the authors in the Commentary section are not those of Reuters News.
In at least one thing, in its present time of troubles, the United Kingdom remains pre-eminent. Queen Elizabeth II (92), is the longest-serving head in the world, both of a state and a royal family whose magnificence and capacity for display easily tops anything else in the West. Though far outranked in wealth by the Sultan of Brunei (71), and in both wealth and power by King Salman of Saudi Arabia (82), she has a firm base of popularity. Good for her; a problem for her successors.
Novelist Zoë Heller isn’t interested in watching the marriage of Prince Harry to actress Meghan Markle. “The most interesting stuff about weddings for me is always the anthropological detail, the chance to watch how people are behaving at the reception afterward,” says Heller, author of books that include “The Believers” and “Notes on a Scandal.” “But you’re not going to get any of that.” Of more interest to Heller: how a worldly woman like Markle will cope with the “drear” of royal life.
It’s crunch time for Mexico, where the course of the next two months will determine whether the country turns its back on a generation-long project of opening its economy to the world and its political system to the winds of democratic change. The decision ultimately rests with Mexican voters — and, to some extent, with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear accord has brought a bonus for the Kremlin. The U.S. president’s Iran action means that Vladimir Putin could make up with the soaring price of oil – the real backbone of the Russian economy and his hold on power – for what he lost from the sanctions.
In China’s northwest Xinjiang province, the predominantly Muslim Uighur minority have nowhere to hide. Facial recognition software reportedly alerts authorities if targeted individuals stray more than 1000 feet from their homes and workplaces. Residents face arrest if they fail to download smartphone software that allows them to be tracked, according to social media users. Simply wishing to travel outside China can be cause for arrest, with Beijing detaining family members and using its political clout to force extradition of those abroad.
Does Europe still have a partner, a big brother across the water? One which can be a scold, a nag, an annoyance, a puzzle – but which has always been there for it? A partner that is also a protector, with a military and security network of unrivalled power and reach? Is the United States still that partner?
In an ironic twist, President Donald Trump’s diplomatic progress in North Korea may have played a major role in his decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement. The decision to withdraw the United States from the hard-won multinational Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action “sends a critical message,” the U.S. president said on Tuesday. “The United States no longer makes empty threats. When I make promises, I keep them.”
The Trump administration no doubt hopes that the North Koreans will shake with fear and come to the negotiating table with full transparency and obedience to Washington’s will now that the United States has withdrawn from the Iran nuclear deal. But the White House is confusing Iran with North Korea (DPRK) and ignoring key geopolitical differences between the two countries and regions.
Many regard the invasion of Iraq as the worst foreign policy move in the history of the American republic. Now we arguably have a competitor. The decision to abandon the nuclear agreement with Iran isolates the United States, reneges on an American commitment, adds to the risk of a trade war with the United States’ allies and a hot war with Iran, and diminishes the prospects of a durable and truly verifiable agreement to eliminate the North Korean nuclear and missile threat.
May 12 is more than the deadline for Donald Trump to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement. It’s also the day that Iraqis are due to go to the polls to vote for a new parliament. And while the election has been largely overlooked amid the tension over the U.S. president’s decision, it’s hard to understate the significance of the ballot for Washington and Tehran.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been mad at the West for years. Indeed, he came to office mad at the West, because he thought the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the [20th] century,” and has blamed NATO expansion for post-Cold War tensions with Russia.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who on Monday presented what he claimed was evidence of a secret Iranian nuclear weapons program, may have added fuel to a looming foreign policy crisis for the United States. On May 12, President Donald Trump is expected to decide to re-impose sanctions on Iran under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. That will significantly increase the chances of war – and may be exactly the outcome Washington seeks.
Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Iran of lying “big time” about its nuclear program. In a theatrical announcement Monday, the Israeli prime minister presented files and CDs that he claimed show Tehran hid secret nuclear plans after signing the multinational 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreement.
In the Middle East, all eyes are fixed on Syria’s ongoing carnage and the international response to the latest chemical attack by Bashar al-Assad’s regime. But if the United States seeks stability in the region, it needs a strategy to contain Iran’s threats to its neighbors. The most effective place to start defies conventional wisdom: it is building an international coalition for a ceasefire in Yemen.
Donald Trump may soon learn that revising history can come back to haunt him - especially as he approaches his own historic reckoning on North Korea. On Tuesday, with France’s President Emmanuel Macron looking on in the Oval Office, the U.S. president again smeared the Iran nuclear deal as “insane” and “ridiculous” and criticized former Secretary of State John Kerry for not wanting to address Iran’s regional misdeeds because doing so “was too complicated.”
In the long learning curve of Brexit a handful of countries outside the European Union have become shorthand for Britain’s options. Norway offers a continuing place in the single market for those who want the softest form of leaving the EU. Canada stands for the free-trade agreement broadly on offer from the union. Now it’s Turkey’s turn to enter the Brexit lexicon – thanks to its customs union with the bloc.
In at least one thing, in its present time of troubles, the United Kingdom remains pre-eminent. Queen Elizabeth II (92), is the longest-serving head in the world, both of a state and a royal family whose magnificence and capacity for display easily tops anything else in the West. Though far outranked in wealth by the Sultan of Brunei (71), and in both wealth and power by King Salman of Saudi Arabia (82), she has a firm base of popularity. Good for her; a problem for her successors.
Novelist Zoë Heller isn’t interested in watching the marriage of Prince Harry to actress Meghan Markle. “The most interesting stuff about weddings for me is always the anthropological detail, the chance to watch how people are behaving at the reception afterward,” says Heller, author of books that include “The Believers” and “Notes on a Scandal.” “But you’re not going to get any of that.” Of more interest to Heller: how a worldly woman like Markle will cope with the “drear” of royal life.
It’s crunch time for Mexico, where the course of the next two months will determine whether the country turns its back on a generation-long project of opening its economy to the world and its political system to the winds of democratic change. The decision ultimately rests with Mexican voters — and, to some extent, with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear accord has brought a bonus for the Kremlin. The U.S. president’s Iran action means that Vladimir Putin could make up with the soaring price of oil – the real backbone of the Russian economy and his hold on power – for what he lost from the sanctions.
In China’s northwest Xinjiang province, the predominantly Muslim Uighur minority have nowhere to hide. Facial recognition software reportedly alerts authorities if targeted individuals stray more than 1000 feet from their homes and workplaces. Residents face arrest if they fail to download smartphone software that allows them to be tracked, according to social media users. Simply wishing to travel outside China can be cause for arrest, with Beijing detaining family members and using its political clout to force extradition of those abroad.
Does Europe still have a partner, a big brother across the water? One which can be a scold, a nag, an annoyance, a puzzle – but which has always been there for it? A partner that is also a protector, with a military and security network of unrivalled power and reach? Is the United States still that partner?
In an ironic twist, President Donald Trump’s diplomatic progress in North Korea may have played a major role in his decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement. The decision to withdraw the United States from the hard-won multinational Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action “sends a critical message,” the U.S. president said on Tuesday. “The United States no longer makes empty threats. When I make promises, I keep them.”
The Trump administration no doubt hopes that the North Koreans will shake with fear and come to the negotiating table with full transparency and obedience to Washington’s will now that the United States has withdrawn from the Iran nuclear deal. But the White House is confusing Iran with North Korea (DPRK) and ignoring key geopolitical differences between the two countries and regions.
Many regard the invasion of Iraq as the worst foreign policy move in the history of the American republic. Now we arguably have a competitor. The decision to abandon the nuclear agreement with Iran isolates the United States, reneges on an American commitment, adds to the risk of a trade war with the United States’ allies and a hot war with Iran, and diminishes the prospects of a durable and truly verifiable agreement to eliminate the North Korean nuclear and missile threat.
May 12 is more than the deadline for Donald Trump to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement. It’s also the day that Iraqis are due to go to the polls to vote for a new parliament. And while the election has been largely overlooked amid the tension over the U.S. president’s decision, it’s hard to understate the significance of the ballot for Washington and Tehran.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been mad at the West for years. Indeed, he came to office mad at the West, because he thought the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the [20th] century,” and has blamed NATO expansion for post-Cold War tensions with Russia.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who on Monday presented what he claimed was evidence of a secret Iranian nuclear weapons program, may have added fuel to a looming foreign policy crisis for the United States. On May 12, President Donald Trump is expected to decide to re-impose sanctions on Iran under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. That will significantly increase the chances of war – and may be exactly the outcome Washington seeks.
Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Iran of lying “big time” about its nuclear program. In a theatrical announcement Monday, the Israeli prime minister presented files and CDs that he claimed show Tehran hid secret nuclear plans after signing the multinational 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreement.
In the Middle East, all eyes are fixed on Syria’s ongoing carnage and the international response to the latest chemical attack by Bashar al-Assad’s regime. But if the United States seeks stability in the region, it needs a strategy to contain Iran’s threats to its neighbors. The most effective place to start defies conventional wisdom: it is building an international coalition for a ceasefire in Yemen.
Donald Trump may soon learn that revising history can come back to haunt him - especially as he approaches his own historic reckoning on North Korea. On Tuesday, with France’s President Emmanuel Macron looking on in the Oval Office, the U.S. president again smeared the Iran nuclear deal as “insane” and “ridiculous” and criticized former Secretary of State John Kerry for not wanting to address Iran’s regional misdeeds because doing so “was too complicated.”
In the long learning curve of Brexit a handful of countries outside the European Union have become shorthand for Britain’s options. Norway offers a continuing place in the single market for those who want the softest form of leaving the EU. Canada stands for the free-trade agreement broadly on offer from the union. Now it’s Turkey’s turn to enter the Brexit lexicon – thanks to its customs union with the bloc.