Judah Grunstein

It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that whatever hopes we might have held out for 2021 were disappointed. Instead of a turning point where the alarming trends of the preceding five years were reversed, the past year seemed more like a moment of fluctuation, where those trends wavered, only to r…

The latest developments in Ukraine indicate that Russia is now in the final stages of preparing an invasion. If so, it suggests a chilling coda is close at hand to the months of debates over whether Vladimir Putin was intent on invading Ukraine, whether he was engaging in coercive diplomacy, or whet…

One consequence of the shift from emergent to protracted conflict is that the initial shock caused by a radical departure from a status quo many take for granted is replaced, more or less quickly, by resignation and disinterest. Is the war in Ukraine ultimately destined to also be downgraded by this…

History unfolds not as an arc that bends in one direction, but rather as a pendulum swinging back and forth between poles. Resilience and grit, not hubris or resignation, are required when the pendulum swings against us. If there is hope, it lies in the struggle, not the notion that a better outcome…

Two developments in the past week conspired to put the polarized debate over free speech and social media regulation in sharp focus. Last Saturday, the EU finalized its proposed legislation to regulate social media. And Monday, Twitter reached a deal with Elon Musk, a self-described “free spee…

The United States’ history as a nation that was not born a solitary whole, but became one by merging its discrete parts, often hides in plain sight. Yet, when that history resurfaces, it calls into question assumptions on which the country’s international standing are based. The past two…

U.S. President Joe Biden made his first presidential trip to the Middle East this week, stopping in Israel and Saudi Arabia. The contrasting atmospherics of the two legs of the trip serve to underscore how much has changed in the region in recent years, but also paradoxically how much has stayed the…

Given the state of U.S.-China relations these days, most observers had low expectations for Thursday’s call between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping. The list of issues causing tensions is long, and the areas for cooperation have narrowed. Unsurprisingly, then, the call resembled a conversation from the ter…

Last Friday, Argentine President Alberto Fernandez announced he would not seek reelection, leaving the country’s wide-open presidential race even more uncertain. Both the Peronist camp and the center-right opposition are now without a clear candidate, but whoever becomes Argentina’s next president will have their work cut out for them.

Countries in the Global South largely took a neutral approach to Russia’s war in Ukraine. The West may finally be listening to their concerns.