The Global Citizen

US military ties to Saudi Arabia have compromised US policy on human rights, energy, and the war in Yemen. The Saudi leader has leveraged OPEC oil production to secure US arms and defense of the kingdom while avoiding the policy reevaluation promised by Biden. It is time to sever military ties.

Two issues now dominate discussion of the Ukraine war: How to deter Russia from using a nuclear weapon, and whether there is an off-ramp for Putin that would bring the war to an end. I find that most analysts, and apparently the US government, are more hopeful than confident about how to respond to either problem. There is no lack of ideas about responding to a "limited" nuclear use by Russia, but when it comes to an off-ramp, the alternatives seem to be either victory by one side or a cease-fire and negotiations that neither Russia nor Ukraine is ready to undertake.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has passed a bipartisan bill, the Taiwan Policy Act of 2022, that will dramatically increase US military and political support of Taiwan. If approved by the full Senate, the TPA will actually make Taiwan less secure and further heighten US-China tensions. Beijing is likely to consider that the TPA moves US policy another step closer to supporting Taiwan's independence, its red line.

Ukraine's stunningly successful counteroffensive has led to unwarranted optimism that the end of the war may be in sight. But Vladimir Putin still has options even in the face of dissent at home and abroad. This episode discusses war-ending possibilities, the most likely of which is the exhaustion of one side and an eventual leadership change in Russia that leads to withdrawal from Ukraine territory.

This episode poses the question: How might Middle East affairs be different if US-Iran relations were normalized, starting with agreement to revitalize the 2015 nuclear deal? If the deal is renewed, opportunities may exist to confront difficult regional issues such as nuclear weapons acquisition, Yemen's civil war, and Israel-Iran hostility. Some analysts believe the ayatollah needs an American enemy, but he agreed to the deal in 2015--and the new deal is just as advantageous for the US as the previous one.

The October presidential election in Brazil may well determine the fate of the Amazon's forests, “the lungs of the earth.” Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the former president who protected the Amazon, faces off against the current president, Jair Bolsonaro, whose right-wing government favors corporate interests that have dramatically increased deforestation and fires. Lula is favored to win, but should Bolsonaro win or stage a coup, the Amazon will be at a tipping point.

India is often billed as the world's largest democracy, but the reality is quite different. The Modi government's Hindi nationalism is a threat to India's 200 million Muslims and violates India's constitution. Modi's social and economic programs have failed farmers, women, and children. "Electoral autocracy" or "illiberal democracy" are better descriptors of the Moda regime.

The European Union faces two challenges in its great game with Putin over Russia's natural gas and oil exports: maintaining unity as it reduces dependence on Russia, and moving more swiftly to conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions.

This episode critically examines House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's decision to visit Taiwan at the height of US-China tensions. She said she wanted to help protect Taiwan's democracy from a Chinese threat, but her trip actually increased China's pressure on Taiwan and undermined US-China efforts to stabilize relations.

President Biden's first Middle East trip was anything but a resounding success. What he mainly accomplished was to bring traditional US policy back to where it had been before Trump, including putting strategic and economic interests ahead of human rights in relations with Saudi Arabia and Israel.