“And are we not guilty of offensive disparagement in calling chess a game? Is it not also a science and an art, hovering between those categories as Muhammad’s coffin hovered between heaven and earth, a unique link between pairs of …
Germany’s soft spot for Russia
Mounted atop a former warehouse in Hamburg’s industrial-era docklands, the billowing form of the Elbphilharmonie concert hall rises above Germany’s second-largest city like an ocean wave. The glass-panelled building crowns a new, forward-looking section of the city, a modern and …
Trump’s reverse-Nixon manoeuvre
As the world reels from the scenes of the televised boxing match between Zelensky and Trump, with Vance egging the fight on, we are in danger of losing sight of what the encounter reveals about Trump’s priorities. Though it was …
The roots of Trump’s realpolitik
President Trump’s attempt to end the war in Ukraine has enraged liberal internationalists on both sides of the Atlantic. Dealing directly with the Kremlin and going over the heads of America’s European allies, publicly belittling Ukraine and its leader, and …
Europe’s reckless bid for victory
Donald Trump wants peace, now. Volodymyr Zelensky and his European supporters want victory, later. This is what the very public disagreement in the Oval Office on Friday was all about. Peace through victory — essentially the Second World War model …
Trump’s angry imperialism
“We tell ourselves stories in order to live,” observed Joan Didion. Yet politicians are different. They tell stories not so much to live, but to survive. Stories give leaders an aura of purpose and control, imbuing their decisions with great …
Trump’s diplomacy won’t bring peace
So now we know. Washington is intent on decoupling from Europe and reconnecting with Russia. America’s stance was reaffirmed yesterday, in Brussels, by the newly minted Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, who was there primarily to discuss the Ukraine conflict. We …
Can America control its oligarchs?
When you hear the word “oligarch”, you might imagine someone like Farkhad Akhmedov, one of the 50 wealthiest Russians. In his book Mastering the Universe, economics professor Rob Larson writes that Akhmedov’s personal superyacht features a pair of helipads, a …
Why Putin needs a new Yalta
If you know anything about the Yalta Conference, it’s probably that picture. You know the one: three war-weary leaders, sitting side-by-side, Roosevelt with his toothy smile, Churchill all eyebrows — and Stalin, grinning under his moustache, visibly pleased at the …
The secret of Putin’s meat grinder
Vladimir Putin promised a lightning war — but almost three years after his invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s military is bleeding. The number of casualties, alone, is shocking. Even Trump has remarked on the consequences of Putin “grinding it out”. Since …
Will China go to war with Trump?
It’s still before dawn when hundreds of Chinese missiles begin to rain down on Taiwan. Much of the self-governing island’s air and naval forces are obliterated in a matter of minutes. Chinese special forces storm the residence and offices of …
Why Trump won’t end the war in Ukraine
The imminent return of Donald Trump to the White House has dramatically reframed the discussion about the Ukraine war. After years of insisting on a Ukrainian military victory at any cost, the Western political and media establishment appears to be …
Is Britain sleepwalking into war?
The collapse of Assad’s regime in Syria has not changed the balance of power in the war between Russia and Ukraine. There is no doubt that the Ukraine war, after the deaths of hundreds of thousands, will end through negotiations, …
Syria has exposed Russia’s frailty
Five months ago, Vladimir Putin declared that the so-called “multipolar world” had become a reality. He surely imagined this meant Russia would be one of only a handful of powerful nations able to dominate 21st-century global politics. But if the …
What next for Syria?
It was the clock tower that settled it. The images of rebels driving around the central square of Homs, its famous clocktower visible, confirmed they had taken the city. This meant they could now sever Damascus from the coastal regions, …
