US and Russia met in Saudi Arabia to discuss ground rules for negotiations to end the Ukraine war although no Ukrainians and Europeans attended.  What does it mean?  What are the implications?  PLA Navy task force is spotted in international waters near Australia and NZ and disrupted commercial air traffic by having live fire exercises.  Why?  What is the point of Chinese navy presence?  And a quick update on the continuing saga of the Cook Island and China agreement.

Is this now an era of stick power in international relations? An era of my way or the highway?  US VP Vance spoke at the Munich Security Conference and lectured (or read the riot act) his European audience.  NZ and Cook Islands are having an uncomfortable moment in their relationship when Cook Islands signed an agreement with China without prior alert to NZ.

Busy two weeks of Trump's administration and foreign policy is no exception -- Gaza proposal, hard talk about Panama Canal, turning El Salvador as a penal colony.  Malaysia's chairing of ASEAN has been quiet and unambitious thus far, why?

US president Donald Trump has been busy since his inauguration one week ago.  We chat about his inauguration speech and other things in President Trump's eventful week one on the first week of his 2nd term as US president.

Biden bows out of politics with his farewell address.  Trump claims he has a hand in the Gaza ceasefire.  India seems to be acknowledging an assassination plot on a US citizen.  Landmines was stored wrongly in IKEA and a Polish general responsible for logistics was fired.  After years of National Geographic's Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego program, the defense secretary nominee cannot identify a member of ASEAN.

Trump threatens to take Greenland from Denmark and does not rule out the use of force.  Indonesia has joined BRICS as a full member.

Elon Musk is on the news about supporting the UK Reform Party and him dabbling into UK politics.  Canadian PM Justin Trudeau calling it quits.  Lastly, news about China paying off Houthis for safe passage in the Red Sea.

Studies about democracies in the last eight years or so have focused on democratic recession or backsliding.  Yet, there are democracies that do not regress but instead stagnate.  We discuss an academic article that suggest that some democracies hit their ceilings and do not progress further because of the legacy of nationalist polarization that persist.

Reference:

Aram Hur and Andrew Yeo. 2024. Democratic Ceilings: The Long Shadow of Nationalist Polarization in East Asia. Comparative Political Studies 57(4): 584-612.

We share about how the news we were watching out for in early 2024 transpired, what news caught us by surprise, and what are some of the news that we are watching out for in 2025.

Syria's Assad regime suddenly collapse after 50 years of brutal rule.  What's next?  European politics is volatile these days.  French president Macron has appointed a fifth prime minister to head a fragmented National Assembly.  German chancellor Scholz's government suffered no-confidence vote.  Many other problem spots within Europe.  So what's happening?