Russia’s Rebound | How to Win Friends and Choke China’s Chip Supply | The Gospel of Deglobalization | 2023’s Most Important Election Isn’t Where You Think, and more

to the surveillance watchdog.
 

THE LONG VIEW

The Treaties That Make the World Safer Are Struggling  (Jen Kirby, Vox)
There was a stretch in December’s late-stage negotiations that seemed pretty bleak. 

Ukraine and the New Two War Construct  (Raphael S. Cohen, War on the Rocks)
How much security is enough security? During the Cold War, the question was rather straightforward. 

Drone Advances in Ukraine Could Bring Dawn of Killer Robots  (Associated Press / VOA News)
Drone advances in Ukraine have accelerated a long-anticipated technology trend that could soon bring the world’s first fully autonomous fighting robots to the battlefield, inaugurating a new age of warfare.
 

Corporations Can’t Ignore Geopolitics Anymore  (Elisabeth Braw, Foreign Policy)
The reputational and political costs of doing business in a state that now increasingly frames the West as the enemy are getting harsher. The risk doesn’t end with Chinese business because the world is dividing into two increasingly clear geopolitical blocs.

10 Conflicts to Watch in 2023  (Comfort Ero, Foreign Policy)
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is still reverberating around the world—and setting the stage for more large-scale violence to come.

The Gospel of Deglobalization  (Raghuram G. Rajan, Foreign Affairs)
he most recent era of globalization seems to have come to an end. The ratio of global exports of goods and services to world GDP peaked in 2008 and has trended down ever since. 

MORE PICKS

To Kill a Democracy  (Krithika Varagur, Foreign Affairs)
Indonesia’s current president, Joko Widodo, also known as Jokowi, came to office in 2014 pledging reform but has done little to address these challenges—and he has arguably exacerbated some of them. 

2023’s Most Important Election Isn’t Where You Think  (oward W. French, Foreign Policy)
In 2023, the list of national elections around the world stretches so long that the countries that will hold them, from Andorra to Zimbabwe, almost flirt with covering the alphabet. 

Bangladesh Becomes U.S.-Russia Battleground (Michael Kugelman, Foreign Policy)
A surprising war of words over U.S. actions in the country highlights Dhaka’s tricky balancing act.

What we Can Expect from Kim Jong-un in 2023  (BBC)
As the year drew to a close, he gathered the members of his ruling Workers’ Party, to set out his goals for 2023. Top of his list is to “exponentially increase” the production of nuclear weapons. 

The Quest to Revive Kent’s Coal Mine Towns Consigned to the History Books  (Chris Price, The Telegraph)
Communities across the UK are trying to find a new purpose for their industrial relics

Investigating (Mis)conduct in War is Already Difficult: Will the use of Military AI Make it Harder?  (Laura Bruum, Just Security)
In war, civilians and civilian objects are rarely spared from harm. Sometimes the harm is a deliberate, malicious act, sometimes it is an accident, and most often, in the fog of war, it is hard to find out. 

‘If the Bomb Precedes the Fall of Iran’s Regime, There’s a Potential Existential Threat to Israel’  (Jonathan Lis, Haaretz)
A year after his retirement from the Israeli army, ex-Israeli Military Intel Chief Tamir Hayman warns of reduced U.S. support regarding Iran in the event of attacks on human rights in the West Bank.

Hackers Leak Email Addresses Tied to 235 Million Twitter Accounts  (Joseph Menn, Washington Post)
Researchers believe the information was assembled by unknown actors who exploited a previously disclosed flaw in Twitter’s system for internally verifying account ownership.

Lula Becomes Brazil’s President, with Bolsonaro in Florida  (Jack Nicas and André Spigariol, New York Times)
Brazil inaugurates its new president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, on Sunday. Facing investigations, former President Jair Bolsonaro has taken refuge in Orland.
 

Kim Jong-un Sets His Sights on Mass-Production of Nuclear Weapons (Tim Hornyak, The Times)
Kim announced plans to mass-produce tactical nuclear weapons while developing a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), state media reported.