NATO | Al Majalla

US President Joe Biden (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) pose for press ahead of the US-Russia summit at the Villa La Grange, in Geneva on June 16, 2021. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)

US-Russia Relations Undergo Slow Thaw

It’s been years now since the US-Russia relationship began to deteriorate and has kept reaching new lows. It all started after the Clinton-Obama era attempt at yet another “reset”, ending in…

Maia Otarashvili 30, Jul 2021

A land operation takes place on the Oleshky Sands military training ground close to Crimea as part of the Sea Breeze 2021 maritime exercise held by NATO and its partner nations from June 28 through July 10. According to press statements, the multinational military unit has practiced a raid behind notional enemy lines. (Getty)

Rising Tensions in the Black Sea Amid Sea Breeze Exercises

The Black Sea continues to be embroiled in a tug-of-war amid intensifying great power competition. Russia has made some significant military moves in the region this year and seems to be working…

Maia Otarashvili 09, Jul 2021

A general view of a plenary session of NATO summit as leaders of member countries attend at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) headquarters in Brussels, on June 14, 2021. (Getty)

The NATO Summit in Brussels: Implications for Russia

On June 14th NATO held its 31st summit in Brussels. On the surface, at least, it looks like the transatlantic community is back on the same page, to its pre-Trump posture of “unity, solidarity, and…

Maia Otarashvili 18, Jun 2021

Jean-Claude Juncker (C), President of the European Commission and representatives of the Three Seas Initiative (3SI or TSI) takes part in a TSI Summit, on September 18, 2018 at the Cotroceni Palace, the Romanian Presidency headquarters in Bucharest.

Three Seas Initiative Promise for Black Sea Region

The Three Seas Initiative (3SI) was launched in 2015 as a massive infrastructure investment project involving 12 European countries from the Baltic, Adriatic, and Black Sea regions. Austria, Bulgaria…

Maia Otarashvili 04, Jun 2021

(from L) German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Italy's Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio and France's General Director for Political Affairs and Security Philippe Errera pose for a family photo during a meeting at NATO's headquarters in Brussels on April 14, 2021. (Getty)

The Case Against a New Concert of Powers

Global politics today is a mess, and it can be tempting to turn to history for clues about how to clean it up, as Richard Haass and Charles Kupchan did recently in “The New Concert of Powers” (March…

Nicu Popescu, Alan Alexandroff and Colin Bradford 15, May 2021

Flags of NATO member countries hang at the Parliament Square at the last NATO Summit in London, on December 2, 2019.

The EU is the Military Ally the United States Needs

Tensions over anemic European defense spending have long suffused transatlantic relations—and since 2014, they have become all-consuming, crowding out other priorities, straining the alliance, and…

Max Bergmann 15, Jan 2021

US President Donald Trump (R) and France's President Emmanuel Macron react as they talk during their meeting at Winfield House, London on December 3, 2019. (Getty)

NATO’s Anniversary Summit Highlights Internal Fragmentation

President Donald Trump and 28 other heads of state and government travelled to the UK this week to celebrate NATO’s 70th anniversary alongside Prime Minister Boris Johnson. But while leaders…

Yasmine El Geressi 07, Dec 2019

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Belgium's Prime Minister Charles Michel, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, US President Donald Trump (3R) and Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May and other NATO heads of state watch a helicopter flyover after a family photo for the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) summit, at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, on July 11, 2018. (Getty)

Europe Alone

Speaking at theMunich Security Conferencein early 2019, former Vice PresidentJoe Bidenhad a reassuring message for European politicians, diplomats, and military leaders worried about American…

Alina Polyakova and Benjamin Haddad 19, Jul 2019

The Convincing Call from Central Europe: Let Us into NATO

Twenty years ago today, the first major post–Cold War expansion ofNATOtook place in an unlikely locale:Independence, Missouri. TheCzech Republic,Hungary, andPolandofficially enteredNATOin a ceremony…

M. E. Sarotte 22, Mar 2019

Popular
Editor's Pick

A Palestinian child looks on as bodies of victims of Israeli overnight airstrikes in the northern Gaza Strip lie on the ground in front of the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia on March 20, 2025.

BASHAR TALEB / AFP

Culture & Social Affairs

In Gaza, a child's silent farewell to dead friend pierces the silence of the world

16 April 2025

Palestinian death is increasingly being seen through the lens of cold political calculations. The world's silence over Gaza's horrors has drowned out the desperate screams of its people.

Samer Abou Hawwach

Opinion

Iran is cornered, but is it ready to concede?

14 April 2025

Although Tehran should understand by now that its hand is weak, it remains to be seen whether it can give up its fantasy of empire. Talks in Oman will be telling.

Alia Mansour

The Tompkins Square Park riot in New York City on January 13, 1874, was a clash between the city's police department and thousands of unemployed workers during the economic depression following the Panic of 1873.

Alamy

Documents & Memoirs

The awful history of tariffs and depressions

17 April 2025

What the 19th century teaches us about what happens next

Scott Reynolds Nelson

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meeting with Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (L) during the 4th edition of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF2025) in Antalya on April 11, 2025.

AFP

Politics

Syria’s neighbours want it to have security, but on their terms

16 April 2025

In Türkiye for talks and a conference, Syria's new president knows that there is much to do and many to satisfy if he is to rebuild his country. Amidst the smiles, those with agendas jostle.

Omer Onhon

Opinion

After two years of war in Sudan, the world can no longer plead ignorance

16 April 2025

With numbers so staggering and stories so harrowing, we can't say we don't know what's happening. More needs to be done to address what has become 'the world's largest displacement crisis'.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Sections

Regions

More

LATEST ISSUE

US-Russia Relations Undergo Slow Thaw

Rising Tensions in the Black Sea Amid Sea Breeze Exercises

The NATO Summit in Brussels: Implications for Russia

Three Seas Initiative Promise for Black Sea Region

The Case Against a New Concert of Powers

The EU is the Military Ally the United States Needs

NATO’s Anniversary Summit Highlights Internal Fragmentation

Europe Alone

The Convincing Call from Central Europe: Let Us into NATO

In Gaza, a child's silent farewell to dead friend pierces the silence of the world

Iran is cornered, but is it ready to concede?

The awful history of tariffs and depressions

Syria’s neighbours want it to have security, but on their terms

After two years of war in Sudan, the world can no longer plead ignorance

OPINIONS

A ground offensive against the Houthis looks imminent

8th Brigade disbands: a blueprint for military consolidation?

Yolanda Guardi on the sophistication of Mu‘allaqat poetry

The price of Lebanon’s civil war is still being paid

Sign up for the Weekly Newsletter