Air pollution causes an estimated 2 million premature deaths annually in the region.

There are few existing agreements in history that could serve as a model for a possible buffer zone in the Donbas.

The National Security Strategy shows us that histories and legacies of racism continue to shape the global order, Somdeep Sen writes.

In Haiti, the global community is stepping up with financial, material, and personnel contributions when traditional multilateral responses fail.

The Trump administration’s strategic pivot aims to rebuild the foundational source of U.S. global power—a prosperous, economically integrated, and secure hemisphere, Ryan C. Berg and Joseph Ledford write.

In remembering the Maginot Line, the image of overconfident security is easy to grasp. The problem is that it has little to do with what really happened in 1940, writes historian Alan Allport.

As the United States assumes the rotating G-20 presidency, it is simultaneously working to expel South Africa and abandon the priorities that have guided the G-20 in recent years, writes Binaifer Nowrojee.

Rather than seeking a sweeping new agreement on space policy, a regular conference of the parties could allow for incremental progress within the current legal framework, writes Ely Sandler.

FP’s SitRep sat down with former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, a Nobel Peace laureate, and former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo to get their thoughts on the escalating situation and its impact on Latin America.

Beijing’s new Latin America blueprint is noteworthy for its contrasts with the Trump administration’s declared strategy and priorities in the region.

The Benin coup attempt laid bare the deepening fault lines in a part of Africa that has recently grown ever more unstable, columnist @hofrench.bsky.social writes. foreignpolicy.com/2025/12/18/b...

Political theater, meant to project toughness or distract from policy failure, is replacing the harder work of addressing threats with strategy, argues Adam Weinstein. foreignpolicy.com/2025/12/17/h...

Tarique Rahman, the son of a political dynasty, is set to return after more than 17 years in self-exile ahead of Bangladesh’s national elections. foreignpolicy.com/2025/12/17/b...

A new U.S. initiative, known as Pax Silica, is aimed at securing new AI supply chains targeting critical minerals, semiconductors, and advanced manufacturing. foreignpolicy.com/2025/12/18/t...

U.S. diplomats can breathe a sigh of relief following the decision by a U.S. judge to temporarily block the implementation of mass federal layoffs until the end of January, reports FP’s Rachel Oswald. foreignpolicy.com/2025/12/18/t...

The way Gaza rebuilds in the next several years will determine whether this moment can break the region’s long cycle of violence or become yet another false dawn, writes Shelly Culbertson. foreignpolicy.com/2025/12/17/w...

A proposed Bangladesh-China-Pakistan nexus bodes ill for India’s standing in the region. foreignpolicy.com/2025/12/17/b...

Abundance cannot be achieved through domestic policy alone. foreignpolicy.com/2025/12/17/a...

As famine spreads across Sudan, the United Nations World Food Program has announced that it will need to cut back on its operations in the country due to a lack of funding. foreignpolicy.com/2025/12/17/s...

Recently elected Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has proposed an ambitious 21 trillion yen spending program that puts new stresses on already heavily overdrawn government coffers, writes William Sposato. foreignpolicy.com/2025/12/16/s...

Happening now: James Story, a former U.S. ambassador to Venezuela during the Trump and Biden administrations, joins FP Live to discuss what comes next in Caracas. Watch the live interview here: foreignpolicy.com/live/trumps-...

Despite rising youth unemployment in China, the glorification of soldiers in state media, and competitive pay and benefits, the PLA remains unattractive to many young people.

All eyes are on a European Union meeting on Thursday to see if the bloc can finally break a logjam and find a way to tap hundreds of billions of dollars in frozen Russian Central Bank reserves, writes @kfj-fp.bsky.social.

World Brief: U.S. President Donald Trump orders a blockade on sanctioned oil tankers tied to Venezuela, Australia charges a suspected gunman in the Bondi Beach mass shooting, and lawmakers move toward increasing abortion access across the European Union.

If the U.S. doesn’t reverse its Assad-era sanctions, Syria’s suffering and its people’s hard-won progress could be squandered, write Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Rep. Joe Wilson.

The Trump administration’s Global Health Strategy is a step in the right direction, but promising policy does not ensure successful implementation.

In Southeast Asia, four stories stood out in 2025—and reshaped the region.

Choking off oil flows, the source of almost all of the Venezuelan government’s revenue, could be a backbreaker for President Nicolás Maduro’s rule, writes FP’s @kfj-fp.bsky.social.

Congress’s annual defense bill aims to reverse a troubling course and recenter resilience in U.S. defense policy.

Many experts warn against military action in Venezuela, but what is Trump thinking? James Story, a former U.S. ambassador to Venezuela during the Trump and Biden administrations, will join FP Live to discuss Trump’s options and what could happen next. Register here:

Trump’s agenda reads less like a diplomatic framework for peace and more like a corporate restructuring plan for Russia.

“Souleymane’s Story” follows its title character over the 48 hours leading up to his immigration interview, where he must prove that he has faced sufficient persecution to qualify for asylum and be granted the right to stay in France.

The Islamic republic continues to project strength through its security services and regional networks, yet it no longer controls the symbolic universe that once anchored its legitimacy, writes Menahem Merhavy.

Congress is on the verge of passing legislation that would reauthorize a key U.S. global infrastructure finance agency while turbocharging its lending authorities, FP’s Rachel Oswald reports.

José Kast campaigned on a promise to crack down on illegal immigration and organized crime and to rekindle Chile’s weak economy.

Unlike during the Cold War, there is much less consensus today on which states pose the greatest threats or how best to respond to them, writes columnist @stephenwalt.bsky.social.

Qatar and Turkey could play a central role in pushing Hamas to lay down its arms, according to diplomats and experts.

Today, national interests are guiding international scientific partnerships, transforming science into a geopolitical battleground.

Violet Du Feng’s documentary “The Dating Game” follows three men’s attempts to reboot their dating lives in the wake of China’s former one-child policy.

World Brief: Australia reels from its deadliest mass shooting in decades, Hong Kong convicts Jimmy Lai on national security charges, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky considers dropping Kyiv’s NATO ambitions.

Re-read today, Franklin Foer’s 2004 classic, “How Soccer Explains the World,” inadvertently suggests where globalization went wrong.

The Trump administration has broken with decades of settled practice on corruption issues, and the American people will pay the price, writes Christian Caryl.

In 1966, Democratic Sen. J. William Fulbright opened a major investigation into Democratic President Lyndon Johnson’s expanding war in Vietnam. Congressional Republicans today should learn from his example, writes columnist Julian E. Zelizer.

China’s annual trade surplus now stands at $1 trillion, the largest trade imbalance ever accumulated by any single country. Columnist Adam Tooze explores what that means for the global economy and trade.

By selling China some of the most advanced U.S. hardware, Trump is voluntarily surrendering a widening strategic lead in artificial intelligence to Beijing, writes Aaron Bartnick.

After two decades of austerity and stasis, Germans are ready for growth. Can Friedrich Merz capitalize on it?

There is now a deep chasm between the United States and Europe.

By restructuring the armed forces’ command hierarchy, the reforms introduce unsettling ambiguities for Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, Haleema Saadia and Ali Mustafa write.

“Moldovans have spoken loud and clear, time and time again, that they see their future in the free world,” says Moldovan Foreign Minister Mihai Popsoi.

Framing the welfare state as the root cause of Europe’s economic malaise oversimplifies a far more complex reality, writes Omer Taspinar.