International

America and the Middle East

Reassessing Obama’s biggest mistake

How much was his red line in Syria to blame for America’s lost credibility?

Is a bigger party a better one?

The BRICS bloc is riven with tensions

China’s plan to expand the club reveals the contradictions at its core

Shock trauma

What Ukraine’s bloody battlefield is teaching medics

Western armies have not dealt with mass casualties since the 1950s

Thinking for themselves

Western values are steadily diverging from the rest of the world’s

People’s principles were expected to align as countries got richer. What happened?

Hunting for a breakthrough

The Ukrainian army commits new forces in a big southward push

After eight of weeks of slow progress, it is trying to revive its counter-offensive

Grain wreck

Russia is attacking Ukraine’s agricultural exports

It is blowing up both the facilities used to ship food out and the deal that grants it safe passage

Steppe stasis

Is Ukraine’s offensive stalling?

A breakthrough remains possible, but it will take time

Asia’s biggest beasts

What if China and India became friends?

Setting aside their border dispute could transform their relationship—and geopolitics

Seeking “strategic autonomy”

What would Europe do if Trump won?

Even as NATO meets, Europeans are exploring a plan B

Shaping up and tooling up

NATO is drafting new plans to defend Europe

They look set to be approved at a crucial summit in Vilnius

The great dilemma

NATO is agonising over whether to let Ukraine join

America is not keen for the country to enter the alliance—yet

Making it as migrants

India’s diaspora is bigger and more influential than any in history

Adobe, Britain and Chanel are all run by people with Indian roots