At the end of June, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave an interview in which he declared, once again, that Russia would win its war against Ukraine. The Russian army, he said, was advancing along ...

In some cases, ambiguity can help countries settle wars. Leaders, for example, can leverage uncertainty to de-escalate a conflict or reach a stable peace agreement by letting both sides claim victory.

Browse all articles written by Jonathan Panikoff for Foreign Affairs.

Hamas’s brutal October 7 attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza have shone a spotlight on the rising role in regional and international politics of a small Gulf state: Qatar. Since the ...

Although Han Chinese make up more than 90 percent of the country’s population, China’s constitution and subsequent laws grant minority nationalities autonomy in specific regions and promise them ...

Yet overall, the Middle East emerging out of this upheaval looks a lot like the one that existed before it. Outsiders continue to play their balance-of-power games within the borders of weak Arab ...

Browse all articles written by Andrei Kolesnikov for Foreign Affairs.

In April 2025, Chinese coast guard personnel stepped onto Sandy Cay, an uninhabited sandbar in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, and unfurled the Chinese flag. In much of the world, this act ...

With the prospects for diplomacy between the United States and Iran uncertain, it may seem premature to contemplate the postwar future. After all, following the June 17 memorandum of understanding, ...

The Chinese navy, too, maintained at least 190 vessels operating around the island monthly. After a brief and unexplained drop in early 2026, air and naval activities have been escalating again. And ...

Why the World Should Still Worry About Dirty Bombs With Radiological Weapons, States—Not Terrorists—Pose the Main Risk William C. Potter, Sarah Bidgood, Hanna Notte December 15, 2023 ...

And so African countries are now leaning toward the “electro-state” development model advanced by China, in which abundant, low-cost electricity from renewables underpins industrialization and ...