Russia
Countdown to Asia’s summit season
After two years of Covid-19 hiatus, Asia’s “summit season” is back. This year the G20 meeting of top global economies will also be hosted in Asia, as well as the Association of…
The banality of Putin’s evil
No event since the end of the USSR has shaken the global order as violently as Russia’s war against Ukraine. The trampling of international norms, the devastation of cities, the…
Could China save the world?
Xi Jinping may be the most powerful man in the world. His principal rival for that title – Joe Biden – presides over a dysfunctional political system in which effective domestic…
If Russia breaks the nuclear taboo
Your main aim is to show that Europe’s security order cannot be altered without Russia’s tacit approval. You must set NATO an intolerably high price for joining the fight against…
A neck-and-neck election for the future of the internet
The campaign to elect the next Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union has entered the final stretch, with UN member states assembling in Bucharest, Romania…
Ukraine conflict: turning point?
Ukraine’s successful counter-offensive in Kharkiv region and President Vladimir Putin’s sharply escalatory response in recent days represent a turning point in the Ukraine…
The war in Ukraine is pushing Central Asia away from Russia
As the Russian army pulled back the troops after a series of humiliating defeats in north-east Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin flew to Uzbekistan to attend a gathering…
China’s ungainly balancing act with Russia
President Xi Jinping’s meeting with Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Uzbekistan has prompted another round of …
The SCO: an illiberal club of growing global significance
The 22nd leaders’ summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, to be held on 15–16 September, will be the first in-person gathering of the central Asian grouping since 2019…
China, Russia and North Korea: the wars that never end
Book review: Dancing on Bones: History and Power in China, Russia and North Korea, by Katie Stallard (OUP, 2022)
In Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery, in north-east Saint…