The latest international affairs commentary by @ishaantharoor.bsky.social wapo.st/4punw8l

There’s a simpler way to describe anti-anti-fascism.

Check out this scatterplot of health spending per capita (x axis) & life expectancy (y axis) in OECD countries (lines = averages). The United States sits alone in the bottom right area due to its very high spending rate and below-average life expectancy. More www.oecd.org/en/publicati... 🧪

In a different era, the answer to a lot of stupid conversations on Twitter would be to have some wise, overly-engaged take about those stupid conversations. Now, the obvious thing is not to engage those conversations at all.

Most interesting commentary on events in Nepal I’ve seen so far, by the consistently worth reading @ishaantharoor.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

The latest analysis by @ishaantharoor.bsky.social follows. It makes me wonder: Has a Major Non-NATO Ally ever bombed the capital of another Major Non-NATO Ally before? www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

My latest In Sudan and Afghanistan, disaster upon disaster www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

The laws have not changed, the precedent has not changed. What has changed is that you have a President who says "I have an Article 2 where I have the right to do whatever I want as president' and a Supreme Court who agrees.

"Trump has plunged the world into an uncertain era of economic coercion and combat, one where many countries might see the merits in taking China’s side," writes @ishaantharoor.bsky.social in this must-read:

My latest, on how China seizing the mantle of the post-war era, for all its opportunism and cynicism, is more plausible than it would have been a year ago. Read more sans paywall here: www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

Columnist @ishaantharoor.bsky.social reiterates Joseph Nye’s point: “If Trump thinks he can compete with China while weakening trust among American allies, asserting imperial aspirations, destroying USAID, silencing Voice of America,” … “he is likely to fail.”

"Thanks to Trump, China claims mantle of the post-World War II order: Trump has plunged the world into an uncertain era of economic coercion and combat — one where many countries may see the merits in taking China’s side," @ishaantharoor.bsky.social wapo.st/47lqYvm

Taking the competitive out of competitive authoritarianism

Some kids see their parents snatched away by unidentified immigration officials. My kids got a toy Border Patrol badge. www.pbump.net/o/returning-...

Not even in the lowest depths of Arsenal’s banter era did it ever get this bad. The indignity of being a Man Utd fan, my word.

My latest, after a vacation hiatus On Israel's unprecedented slaughter of journalists Non-paywalled link: wapo.st/4oSWffh

My latest, after a vacation hiatus On Israel's unprecedented slaughter of journalists Non-paywalled link: wapo.st/4oSWffh

So Putin gets a red carpet welcome, a ride in the presidential limo, speaks first at the presser, frames the meeting as a successful talk among equals, while making absolutely no concession on the conduct or outcome of the war.

Thanks for reporting on this. More Sudanese will suffer and starve to death and yet could be saved had USAID continued operating. Trump and Musk withdrew funding and destroyed 500 metric tons of food aid. Bastards! apnews.com/article/emer...!

new newsletter from me & @lollardfish.bsky.social on the news making the rounds - new DNA evidence of connections between West Africa (sub-Saharan) and early medieval England. free to read #medievalsky

My latest At least 63 people, mostly women and children, starved to death in the besieged city of El Fasher this past week. That number only includes those who arrived at medical facilities. Sudan’s calamity and ‘the end of the liberal world order’ Free to read. wapo.st/47taKjM

Sudan suffers from a neglect and indifference that seems to reflect the new shape of global politics, @ishaantharoor.bsky.social writes www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

There are very few genuinely fascist intellectuals, in large part because fascism is not really a substantive ideology. Figures like Vermeule seem dangerous because they are among the few scholars able to justify fascism with some minimal eloquence. But in the end, they are tertiary.

My former colleague, now independent, uses the word “genocide” without the caveats and the quotation marks

Benny Johnson has a long history of bending the truth or flat-out lying to fit a narrative. I had the bad luck of working with him for two years. He’s a bad person with no moral compass.

A truly stupid state of affairs

Putin gets his first U.S. visit since the Bush administration, offers nothing in return Catherine Belton and @francescaebel.bsky.social report He's wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and continues to attack Ukraine www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

The times, they are a-changin'. Remarkable wave of op-eds on proportional representation this week *alone*: -WaPo / @ishaantharoor.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0... -Kansas Reflector / @rpund.bsky.social kansasreflector.com/2025/08/02/i... Cont./

Before Gaza, there was Nagorno-Karabakh, notes @ishaantharoor.bsky.social. Azerbaijan seized the Armenian enclave and expelled its people. Now a "peace" is set to confirm the ethnic cleansing and the political imprisonment of Armenians like Ruben Vandanyan. s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw/?tra...

I think this may be the best report finding in a UN report: No one reads UN reports, according to a UN report. www.reuters.com/world/un-rep...

POST EXCLUSIVE (GIFT LINK) The Trump administration intends to dramatically limit U.S. government criticism of El Salvador, Israel and Russia, all with extensive records of abusing human rights @mradamtaylor.bsky.social @hannahnatanson.bsky.social @johnphudson.bsky.social report wapo.st/4mAYX7v

Bard president Leon Botstein says Trump’s campaign against colleges follows ‘a classic antisemitic routine’ forward.com/fast-forward...

If I could pick one image to send back to 2003 to try and change the timeline

My latest column, on how the Texas redistricting crisis reveals, yet again, glaring failures in the U.S. political system -- and how the answers to fixing this can be found easily in other countries Free link here: wapo.st/4mopRPK

My latest column, on how the Texas redistricting crisis reveals, yet again, glaring failures in the U.S. political system -- and how the answers to fixing this can be found easily in other countries Free link here: wapo.st/4mopRPK

I interviewed South Korea's foreign minister, and Chinese state media is on it www.globaltimes.cn/page/202508/...

Great interview with South Korean FM, Cho Hyun

My latest My interview with South Korea's new foreign minister Cho Hyun, who went to Washington last week. I asked him whether Seoul bent on any red lines in trade talks with Trump: "It’s better to enjoy your sausage without getting into the process of making sausage." wapo.st/451F5V9

My latest My interview with South Korea's new foreign minister Cho Hyun, who went to Washington last week. I asked him whether Seoul bent on any red lines in trade talks with Trump: "It’s better to enjoy your sausage without getting into the process of making sausage." wapo.st/451F5V9

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun sits down with my colleague @ishaantharoor.bsky.social in Washington: www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

Russell Vought and Elon Musk, funded by bad Coors beer, have in 6 months destroyed everything I worked for in my half-century career, of promoting and institutionalizing international understanding

Photos by Heidi Levine.

“They made a desolation and called it peace”

My latest @washingtonpost.com column Leading genocide scholars see a genocide happening in Gaza Non-paywalled link: wapo.st/4mmStsP

By @ishaantharoor.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

“There’s no hunger in Gaza,” Eliyahu said in the same interview, dismissing reports of starvation as anti-Israel propaganda. “But we don’t need to be concerned with hunger in the Strip. Let the world worry about it.” @ishaantharoor.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

Remarkable: Zohran Mamdani's video about returning to Uganda racked up 4.5 million views on Instagram, 56% among non-followers, per data given to me. He is forging a new answer to Dems' digital woes. I talked to his advisers in depth about it. Fascinating. 1/ (link) newrepublic.com/article/1984...

The front page of Scotland's newspaper The National.

“Santa Claus arrived early for President Lula, and the gift was sent by Trump through this clumsy attack on Brazil’s sovereignty in order to protect a wannabe dictator and a clear loser.” Like Canada and Australia goes Brazil? via @ishaantharoor.bsky.social

As Gaza starves, Israel’s far right sees a dream coming true “Members of Israel’s government embrace the Trump-inspired vision of a Gaza of gleaming towers, ritzy tourism and pristine neighborhoods, but without Palestinians.” @ishaantharoor.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...