Results for geopolitics

New York Times News Analysis: An era that began two decades ago with the shock of hijacked planes flying into American skyscrapers drew to a close this week with desperate Afghans clinging to American planes as they tried to escape the chaos of Kabul. Some fell; one was found dead in the landing gear. A colossal bipartisan investment of U.S. force, treasure and diplomacy to defeat a hostile ideology bent on the creation of an Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has failed. Over four presidencies, two Republican and two Democratic, more than 2,400 Americans gave their lives, and more than $1 trillion was spent, for shifting Afghan goals, many of which proved unattainable.

Vaccinating the world against COVID-19 is one of mankind’s most critical non-wartime efforts ever. Many countries have developed ambitious, politically sensitive, and carefully sequenced vaccination plans, but executing them successfully will be a challenge. To succeed, policymakers should build three realistic assumptions into their vaccination planning for 2021 and beyond. First, delays are inevitable. By Swee Kheng Khor

A pandemic is enveloping the world, endangering the lives and livelihoods of millions of people. As US President Donald Trump desperately seeks to shift blame for his own ineptitude, China is laying the groundwork for global leadership in the post-COVID-19 era. Thanks to Trump, the US will almost certainly lose the great-power competition – and countless lives. By Vali Nasr

In the context of an emerging Indo-Pacific solidarity - how does the Pacific maintain and strengthen its own strategic autonomy? How do we ensure our regional priorities are neither undermined through the breaking of our Pacific solidarity, nor appropriated by the narratives of others not of our region? These are key questions for the Forum Family, says Dame Meg Taylor in her keynote address to the 2018 State of the Pacific Conference, at the Australia National University in Canberra, on Monday, 8 September 2018.

The United States and China have reached a precarious moment in their relationship. Ensuring a peaceful outcome will be the greatest geopolitical challenge of the twenty-first century. Are our leaders up to it? By Graham Allison and Arianna Huffington.

Since the end of the Cold War, the larger Western powers, the US and UK, started to lose interest in the Pacific. From a Western security perspective, the day-to-day management of the region was handed over to Australia and New Zealand. Unfortunately, in an increasingly multipolar world, all sorts of new foreign policy options are available. By Cleo Paskal.

Of all the Pacific Islands Forum members, China only gives aid to the eight countries that recognise it. Of those countries Tonga is one of the largest recipients of Chinese aid pledges in both overall and per capita terms. That is interesting because Tonga has one of the smallest populations of the eight countries and has few resources of interest to China. By Fergus Hanson