Politics

There is something almost theatrical about a militia that spent two years shooting at merchant vessels suddenly declaring the Red Sea “safe” — with an asterisk. Yahya Saree, the Houthi military spokesman, announced that maritime navigation through one of the world’s most critical waterways is now largely unhindered, except, pointedly, for Saudi-flagged or Saudi-linked ships.

There’s a particular kind of diplomatic humiliation that doesn’t require a single harsh word being spoken. It just requires timing. And the timing of Russia’s latest strikes on Kyiv, coming almost immediately after Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner wrapped up their Moscow visit, could not have been more pointed if the Kremlin had scripted it

There is a particular cruelty to floods in the Himalayas. They do not just drown fields and homes; they erase the fragile margins that millions of people in Nepal and China have built their lives upon, quite literally clinging to hillsides and river valleys with nowhere else to go. This monsoon season, that cruelty has

Every few weeks now, Lebanon gets a grim reminder that the word “ceasefire” in this part of the world has become almost decorative. The latest reminder came with seven dead in Israeli strikes, and a Lebanese president reduced to publicly pleading with Washington to rein in an ally that Beirut has no leverage over. According

There’s a particular kind of political theatre in a government ordering the removal of settlements it quietly allowed to sprout in the first place. That’s essentially what’s unfolding in the West Bank right now, as Israeli authorities confirmed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the evacuation of certain settlement outposts — not because Jerusalem

There’s a particular kind of danger in a crisis where both sides claim they’ve already shown enough restraint. That’s precisely where Washington and Tehran find themselves right now, and it’s worth paying close attention because the next move could come from either capital, and neither seems inclined to blink first. According to reporting on the

There’s a peculiar rhythm to this war now — every few months, an American envoy flies to Moscow, sits across from Vladimir Putin, and the world holds its breath wondering if this is the meeting that finally cracks it open. This time it was Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, two men who owe their diplomatic