Last week, President Biden hosted leaders from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in DC to celebrate the alliance’s 75th anniversary. Created in 1949 by the United States, Canada, and 10 Western European countries, NATO sought to provide collective security against the Soviet Union. Since its founding, 20 more countries have joined the alliance, the...
In May, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called for general elections as Britons faced challenges at home and abroad like increasing inflation, high living costs, deteriorating public services, economic recession, and war in Ukraine. The elections last month did not go as expected for Rishi Sunak and his Conservative Party, as Britons handed the Tories...
Following its defeat at the end of the Second World War, Japan was forced to end its colonial rule over Korea, which it had maintained for 35 years. With its infrastructure and institutions destroyed and its population left destitute and traumatized by Japanese domination, Korea was a hotbed of political and societal unrest. The peninsula...
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Connor Cowman: Thank you for joining us! Where in the world did you study abroad and what were you doing there? Thaddian Burson: For this last semester, I spent a term studying abroad in Oxford, England at the University of Oxford. I took two tutorials from...
Since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Israel and Iran have been mortal enemies. In a speech given to his people on Iranian New Year in 1980, the ideological and political leader of the fundamentalist revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, declared that his government would “fight against the Western world — devourers led by America, Israel, and Zionism.”...
The 2023 NATO summit took place in Vilnius, Lithuania this week, at which members of the alliance met to discuss the future of the Transatlantic security relationship as well as the recent accession of Sweden to membership. The relationship between the United States and its European allies has waxed and waned in recent years, but...
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Michael Johns: Thank you very much for joining us. Where in the world were you and what were you doing there? Carolina Amparo: I was studying abroad in Osaka, Japan. I was lucky enough to be able to travel to visit other cities in Japan, particularly...
The United Kingdom has established itself as one of Kiev’s biggest supporters in response to Russia’s 2022 re-invasion of Ukraine. It stands second only to the United States in military assistance to Ukraine, with a contribution standing at £2.5 billion as of May 2023 including important lethal weaponry such as Challenge II battle tanks, long-range...
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Michael Johns: Thank you for joining us! You’re in Puerto Rico now, but where in the world were you and what were you doing there? Juan López: I was in Taiwan for the past three weeks on a study abroad ‘May-mester’ course, “Politics and Globalization in...
China is building itself a foothold in the far north. In recent years, Beijing has invested heavily in Russian infrastructure, mining, and energy in the region, and in 2022 it released a joint statement with Moscow detailing their intent to further increase their cooperation in the Arctic Circle. According to Brookings, over the last two...