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The focus is on the threat of a new era of empires; how the security dilemma works in international politics; why nuclear weapons are expanding maneuver for Western allies to act against Iran; five scenarios for the future of Russia; threat of far-right terrorism

World politics

Bloomberg - On the Advance of Empires ( Hal Brands )

Until 1945, the world lived under the dominance of various empires: colonial, maritime, land, etc. This world was characterized by cruelty, violence and an unbridled thirst for expansion, which drove empires to conquer new spaces. Napoleon or Hitler are good examples of this logic.
After the end of World War II, the United States managed to create a new world where imperial logic no longer applied. Yes, the States themselves were and remain to some extent an empire, but of a completely different kind. The American empire is hardly sinless, but it has nonetheless made the world freer and richer than ever.
Now new autocracies are striving for world hegemony - Russia, China and Iran, driven by the same imperial logic that determined the existence of our world in the past.
These 21st century imperial projects threaten the American liberal world order, seeking to return to a world of empires where expansion and conquest are carried out in ever more brutal and violent ways.

The Atlantic - on the benefits of nuclear weapons ( Ann Applebaum )

Why can American and European fighter jets be used to help Israel, but not Ukraine? Why does Kyiv lack material resources for defense? It's all about the balance of the nuclear power of states.
Russia has atomic weapons, and its propagandists threaten to use them from time to time. Therefore, the United States and Europe do not want to enter Ukrainian airspace, but there is no such problem when entering Israeli airspace: Iran does not have atomic weapons
The second difference between the two conflicts is that the Republican Party remains incredibly impervious to the propaganda that comes from the Islamic Republic of Iran, while the Russian Party is very receptive
Leading Republicans do not sympathize with the mullahs, do not repeat their talking points and do not try to appease them when they make aggressive attacks towards other countries. At the same time, they willingly accept the theses of Russian propaganda and broadcast them to a wide audience.

Russia and Ukraine

Foreign Affairs - about five scenarios for Russia's development ( Stephen Kotkin )

In the first scenario, Russia will follow the path of the once imperial France and democratize, getting rid of the thirst for violent expansion
The second scenario assumes that Russia will go on the defensive and isolate itself from the rest of the world.
The third scenario says that Russia will become a vassal of China and will play the role of a junior partner in Beijing's orbit
The fourth is about turning Russia into a big analogue of North Korea. The Kremlin will exist on the fringes of the world community, threaten nuclear provocations and manipulate its senior partner, China.
In the fifth scenario, it is assumed that Russia, under the pressure of internal and external problems, will plunge into chaos and anarchy, fraught with the destruction of the state.

Current Affairs - on the security dilemma ( Nathan Robinson )

A security dilemma is a condition in which each participant in the international security system sees the actions of another country - even if they are aimed at defense - as a threat, because states cannot say with certainty whether these actions are aimed at defense or preparation for an attack
The security dilemma can serve as a useful concept for understanding relations between the US, China and Russia, as well as Israel and Iran
In America, for example, the idea that Russia perceived NATO expansion as “threatening” is considered absurd. After all, NATO is a purely defensive alliance.
However, in Russia they don’t think so. What would Washington do if, say, China tried to form a defensive military alliance with Canada and Mexico, and began training soldiers in those countries? Despite all the assurances from the West, Russia sees the Alliance as a threat - which is a direct illustration of the security dilemma at work.

Other

Foreign Policy - on the threat of far-right terrorism ( Jacob Ware, Bruce Hoffman)

While all the attention is now focused on Islamic terrorism, there is another threat to keep in mind: the threat of far-right terrorism
The potential for the development and expansion of far-right radicalism should be a matter of concern for the international community. There have been quite a few terrorist attacks in recent years, one of which occurred in 2017 in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Terrorists like Brenton Tarrant operate under the logic of the Great Replacement Theory, which suggests that the white race is under threat from other races. This pushes them to take active terrorist actions.

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