Germans may not be interested in war, but war is interested in them

Written by Jana C. von Dessien

Two decades of wallowing in the comforts of cheap Russian energy, open Chinese markets, and US security guarantees seem to have thoroughly corrupted the entire political class.

Nguyen Phu Trong’s Beijing trip: Safeguarding regime-state security

Written by Phan Xuan Dung

As Vietnam’s most senior politician and the architect of the ‘bamboo diplomacy’ concept, Trong should promote efforts to update Vietnam’s strategic thinking, thereby enabling the country to bend and sway in the current geopolitical headwinds with greater flexibility.

Power Politics9DLNovember 18, 20229DashLine, Nguyen Phu Trong’s Beijing trip: Safeguarding regime-state security, Phan Xuan Dung, Nguyen Phu Trong, Trong, 20th Chinese Communist Party Congress, Vietnamese Communist Party, VCP, Beijing, China, Hanoi, Xi Jinping, Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic partnership, regime-state security, Russia-Ukraine war, Biden administration, authoritarian regimes, political stability, political survival, Marxist-Leninist one-party state, vietnam, Doi Moi economic reform, Doi Moi, united states, international relations, Olaf Scholz, Jacinda Ardern, Joe Biden, President Biden, comprehensive strategic partnership, bamboo diplomacy, post-Cold War era, pluralistic democracy, colour revolutions, US-led liberal democracy, Washington, peaceful evolutions, Biden's National Security Strategy, non-democracies, international rules-based order, socialist democracy, Marxist-Leninist ideology, socialist regime, CCP, Chinese Communist Party, South China Sea, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, bilateral trade, Vietnamese imports, export diplomacy, supply chains, domestic political legitimacy, human rights, Obama, regime change

The EU ventures into the strategic “jungle”

Written by Mohammadbagher Forough

While tropes such as ‘values’ and ‘standards’ are promoted as the main feature of the Global Gateway’s connectivity agenda, African countries (and many others in Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America) will not overlook the fact that this promoted feature contrasts uneasily with neo-colonialist-sounding dichotomies like ‘garden/jungle’.

Faultlines9DLOctober 27, 20229DashLine, Mohammadbagher Forough, The EU ventures into the strategic “Jungle”, European Diplomatic Academy, Josep Borrell, Borrell, Vice-President Borrell, HRVP, garden, jungle, diplomacy, European Union, European Commission, geoeconomic, Global Gateway, Western, Europe, US security, Russian energy, Asia, Pivot to Asia, Biden administration, Indo-Pacific, Russian war against Ukraine, Ukraine, Russia, strategic autonomy, geopolitics, Ursula von der Leyen, China, EU’s Chips Act, John Keats, Germany, China strategy, Olaf Scholz, business lobby, France, Global Gateway initiative, EU Global Gateway Initiative, Europe’s Global Gateway, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), supply chains, resilience, shared communities of interest, India, Africa, Cold War, anti-colonialism, Middle East, Latin America, neo-colonialist, Robert Kagan, colonialism, racism, Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”, Putin, Edward Said, decolonial

Tale of two summits: Why Jacinda Ardern said no to the Commonwealth, but yes to NATO

Written by Geoffrey Miller

And given the focus on Western unity and solidarity in recent months, there’s every chance Jacinda Ardern would travel together with Anthony Albanese on any European side-trip to Ukraine — on a joint ANZAC solidarity mission.

Pacific9DLJune 22, 2022Tale of two summits – Why Jacinda Ardern said no to the Commonwealth, but yes to NATO, 9DASHLINE, GEOFFREY MILLER, China, NATO, New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, Anthony Albanese, Australia, Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Commonwealth, Kigali, Nato Summit, Nanaia Mahuta, Richard Marles, Rwanda, Freedom House, Russia, ANZAC, Ukraine, Paul Kagame, UK, Prince Charles, Human Rights, Human Rights Watch, HRW, Amnesty International, Māori, Commonwealth Games, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, APEC, UN, Small Island Developing States, Commonwealth Litter Programme, Vanuatu, Canada, Global South, Global North, South Africa, Mozambique, Cold War, Japan, Pacific Islands Forum, AUKUS, United Kingdom, NATO Madrid Summit, South Korea, Stoltenberg, Brussels, Europe, EU, Volodymyr Zelensky, Kyiv, Boris Johnson, France, Macron, Germany, Olaf Scholz, Democracy Project

The day the music stopped

Written by Jana C. von Dessien

The Western strategy has reached its limits: switching between realpolitik and moral superiority at one’s own discretion no longer comes without massive costs.

Human Rights, China and the Winter Olympics — can democratic unity prevail?

Written by Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy

After Taiwan opened a representative office in Lithuania under its own name, Beijing didn’t only retaliate bilaterally, but it went after Lithuania’s trading partners in Europe, undermining the integrity of the European single market.

2022: The US and its European allies

The Biden administration’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan and the handling of the AUKUS announcement has strained relations with European allies and served as a stark reminder that the United States will always privilege its interests over those of its friends and partners.

Clouds on the horizon: Sino-German relations and the Bundestag election

Written by Christiane Heidbrink

The CDU/CSU, the SPD, the Greens and the FDP warn against digital competition with China. As these are the four parties with the largest predicted vote shares, their ideas for reinforcing the digital economy, critical infrastructure, and network security will shape Germany's relations with China as well as the US.