Since taking office, US President Trump has time and again highlighted the lack of Transatlantic burden-sharing on security and demanded that European NATO allies strengthen their spending and capacity on defense. More recently, Washington had also began criticizing the EU’s integrative defense initiatives, accusing Brussels for pursuing an “industrial policy under the veneer of a security policy.” Can the US Trump Administration balance and simultaneously pursue both of these seemingly contradictory goals?

Earlier this year between April 25-27, Beijing hosted the second Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Forum with attendance of 36 heads of state, including 9 from Southeast Asia. Yet, the future of the BRI in the region is more complicated than meets the eye due to a range of issues ranging from BRI’s vagueness to the complicated triangular relationship among China, the United States, and Southeast Asia. 

The combative action of shooting down an unmanned US reconnaissance drone by Iran has raised reasonable concerns among the international community about the possibility of an impending war between the sparring nations. If events continue along a path analogous to what we have been observing over the past week, the likelihood of a trigger-happy incident occurring that sparks a wider conflict unfortunately increases, at which point the legal considerations and cautions of the international community may be thrown to the wind.

Since the Opening Up and Reform of 1978, China has maintained an impressive average GDP growth rate at or above 9% and successfully lifted over 700 million people out of abject poverty. At the same time, the country’s social inequality has soared and caught the attention of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership in the last decade. While Xi has prioritized the reduction of rural poverty and build a ‘comprehensively well-off society’, China’s journey towards social equality has been—and will continue to be—a long and arduous one.

On May 26th 2019, the three-day election marathon for the European Parliament (EP) finally came to an end, but the continent is still struggling to process its conflicting results. However, if there is one trend that has transcended national borders, it is the increasing fragmentation of the political system. With the contentious EU budget negotiations, Brexit and potentially also a trade war with the United States all coming up in the fall, the new EC President better get off to a running start – whomever it may be.

Can terrorism ever be justified? While ‘terrorism’ is a nebulous term that is often difficult to justify due to the predominantly negative view of the subject, one can apply the concepts of jus ad bellum towards the phenomena, namely the right authority, just cause, last resort, as well as the reasonable hope of success of a violent act. A closer case study of Al Qaeda against this definition may indeed shed light upon the original question and even bring about another controversial but thought-provoking perspective.

Commemorating the 40th anniversary of the “Message to Compatriots in Taiwan”, Chinese President Xi Jinping reaffirmed the country’s commitment towards Reunification with Taiwan as espoused by the landmark 1979 proclamation. On the other side of the Strait, Taiwanese (Republic of China) leader Tsai Ing-wen continues to stress the irreconcilable differences as an insurmountable barrier to the People’s Republic’s propose “One Country, Two Systems” reunification plan. As Xi and Tsai have both taken hardline stances on the subject, the possibility for compromise on the subject may continue to dwindle in the near future.

After the collapse of US-North Korea negotiations in Hanoi earlier this March, Kim Jong-un has begun to pursue a foreign policy strategy that may not necessarily include a diplomatic relationship with the United States. This follows Kim’s meeting with Russian President Putin in Vladivostok in April, a move that aims to improve North Korea’s economic partnerships and increase leverage in future negotiations with the United States. If the United States does not respond to North Korea’s shifting strategy, tensions may rise once again.

In June 2019, the United States Trump administration is scheduled to unveil the new White House plan, which involve the reinstitution of funds for Palestine but no two-state solution. The new plan has come under criticism from Mohammad Shtayyeh, Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority, as well as over thirty politicians from the European Union. As the Trump administration continues to endorse controversial Israeli policies,it threatens to end the credibility of the United States as a trustworthy third-party and sabotage the prospects of reaching an agreement in the Israeli-Palestine conflict.

In April 2019, three Russian ships docked in Manila for five-day “goodwill visit” amid the escalating tensions in the South China Sea. The move follows President Duterte’s three foreign policy goals of separating the Philippines’ foreign policy from the United States, establishing stronger ties with non-traditions partners like Russia, Japan, and India, and improving relations with China. As the foreign policy of the Philippines becomes increasingly balanced and independent, what are the implications for other Southeast Asian states and the United States?

Last December, Shinzo Abe’s cabinet approved plans to significantly increase Japan’s defense spending. The new five-year defense plan is seen as a shift away from Japan’s constitutionally-enshrined principles of pacifism. While the Abe administration maintains that the budget changes are in response to the rise of perceived regional threats, Japanese public opinion remains sharply divided.

In 2019, Beijing continues to escalate a domestic campaign of detention and surveillance against the Uyghurs, a Muslim Turkic minority that primarily inhabit China’s far-western Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. While some members of the United Nations, especially Muslim allies of China, support China’s assertion that the reeducation camps are a national security project to combat extremism and terrorism, others have called to stop the persecution. Why haven’t they?

While imperialism has often led to disastrous outcomes for colonized states, Britain’s colonization of Hong Kong was an outlier in almost all respects. Though the United Kingdom returned Hong Kong to China in 1997, the succeeding decades have seen increasing tensions between Beijing and the Special Administrative Region, which culminated in the 2014 Umbrella Movement. Five years on, how has the situation developed?

It seems that Samuel Huntington’s “The Clash of Civilizations.” has drawn the ire of Stephen Walt, numerous Foreign Affairs scholars, and students of IR everywhere.  Yet, in the era of ‘globalization’, culture is taking a more prominent place on the global stage, including the waves of right wing populism throughout the West and rise of illiberal states in a number of other states. As international relations theory today is largely dominated by the tenets of realism and liberalism, Huntington perhaps suggests an unconsidered factor: culture. 

While it seems that China is poised to become a dominant power along with the United States, and the world will become more interconnected through globalization, these two changes in the future world order cannot steer the world toward more reciprocity. What would the future world order look like under a multipolar system?

On 25 November 2018, Russian ships carrying elite Spetsnaz soldiers seized two Ukrainian naval gunships, killing of six Ukrainian sailors and capturing thirty more. Tensions between Ukraine and Russia reached a climax last November and have since remained high. As the European Union continues to fracture and as the United States Trump administration continues to hold a soft spot for Russia, future acts of aggression will become more likely.

After more than half a century of mistrust and tension, North Korea and the United States have held bilateral summits in Southeast Asia for two consecutive years. Why is ASEAN and Vietnam such a favorable destination for such historic meetings between the two countries?

Almost three months since it first erupted, the Yellow Vest protests in Paris still rages on. The Yellow Vest protests have since transformed into a general anti-government movement with no clearly defined agenda apart from a common display of frustration towards an unresponsive and out-of-touch government. Rumors in French media have hinted at a potential nation-wide referendum on May 26th this year. If true, this would be the first French referendum in 14 years, with strong implications for France and the European Union.