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Diplomacy & Crisis News

Japan Has Considered Nuclear-Powered Submarines Since 1958. Why Has It Never Built One?

TheDiplomat - Tue, 20/10/2026 - 13:57
From a 1958 design study to reported approaches to the U.S. Navy, Japan has repeatedly examined nuclear-powered submarines without making an acquisition decision.

Myths of Battlefield Triumph Are Destroying the U.S. Military

Foreign Policy - Tue, 20/10/2026 - 13:17
Bad strategy long predates Pete Hegseth and his obsession with “lethality.”

Se laisser mourir de faim pour « rencontrer Jésus » : au Kenya, le gourou Paul Mackenzie reconnu coupable du meurtre de 190 enfants

LeMonde / Afrique - Tue, 20/10/2026 - 13:00
Après treize mois d’audience, et l’audition de plus de 120 témoins, le premier procès du pasteur autoproclamé, accusé de l’une des pires tragédies de l’histoire du pays, s’est achevé lundi 19 octobre. Le prononcé de la peine aura lieu ultérieurement.

The Conciliator

Foreign Policy - Tue, 20/10/2026 - 12:00
Why a retiring Jeanne Shaheen thinks bipartisanship still has a future in America.

Soudan : 53 morts après une attaque de l’armée soudanaise contre un marché à la frontière avec le Soudan du Sud

LeMonde / Afrique - Tue, 20/10/2026 - 11:06
Le bilan pourrait « malheureusement s’alourdir », ont prévenu les autorités locales. Dimanche et lundi, plusieurs frappes au Soudan avaient fait près de 100 morts dans des zones aux mains des paramilitaires des Forces de soutien rapide.

The Proliferation of Illicit Drones in Southeast Asia

TheDiplomat - Tue, 20/10/2026 - 09:16
The past two years have seen the growing use of off-the-shelf commercial drones for criminal and militant activities.

The Chokepoint Trap

Foreign Affairs - Tue, 20/10/2026 - 06:00
Niall Ferguson, the leading historian of empire, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and AI scholar Lisa Klassen offer a novel reframing of the US-China AI race in the history of world empires. The authors argue that AI is inherently imperial in it ambitions and structure, and that, like previous technological empires, China and US have amassed extraordinary global but that it's happening at a much faster pace. Rise and fall cycle will be faster. It will either lead to catastrophe or slow decline.

The Limits of American Power

Foreign Affairs - Tue, 20/10/2026 - 06:00
William McRaven, a retired four-star admiral and a major figure in American military affairs, uses history and his personal experiences to make an authoritative case that American leaders frequently overestimate the potential of military force to achieve political ends—and that new technologies like AI will exacerbate this problem.

The Fog of Tech

Foreign Affairs - Tue, 20/10/2026 - 06:00
Mara Karlin, a defense policy expert who served as senior national-security official in multiple American administrations, makes an authoritative case that war planners tend to be overconfident about their ability to predict how new tools will shape the battlefield—blinding them to the unchanging realities of war. Using examples from Gaza, Ukraine, and Iran, Karlin shows how this "technology trap" leads to false assumptions about the future of war.

Empires of AI

Foreign Affairs - Tue, 20/10/2026 - 06:00
In this essay, Niall Ferguson, one of the world’s foremost experts on imperial history, teams up the former CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, and the researcher Lisa Klaassen to make the provocative argument that AI is an inherently “imperial technology”—and to reveal what the fate of past empires might say about the future of U.S.-Chinese competition in a world shaped by AI.

AI Is a Choice

Foreign Affairs - Tue, 20/10/2026 - 06:00
Alex Imas, Mohamed El-Erian, and James Manyika, leading voices at the intersection of business and technology, argue that realizing AI’s potential requires giving workers, communities, AI labs, infrastructure developers, and big companies a share of the gains. Using insights from game theory, they argue that increased cooperation can make AI work for all.

The China Price

Foreign Affairs - Tue, 20/10/2026 - 06:00
In 1971, as the international monetary system was on the brink of collapse, U.S. Treasury Secretary John Connally told a group of worried European finance ministers that the dollar was “our currency, but your problem.” The dollar had become that system’s official reserve currency in 1944, under the Bretton Woods agreement, making signatories subject to the whims of U.S. monetary policy. Even after Bretton Woods collapsed and many currencies floated freely, the dollar continued to dominate. In the last half century, U.S. currency power has only expanded, as more countries have integrated into the global economy and therefore grown to depend on the dollar. China, reliant on export-driven growth, is foremost among them.

“Earth Satellites and Foreign Policy”

Foreign Affairs - Tue, 20/10/2026 - 06:00
The advent of a new technology invariably comes with strategic implications, raising the question of who will benefit and whether risks can be managed. In 1957, following the Soviet Sputnik launch, U.S. policymakers and analysts recognized that the satellite, as the American physicist and engineer Lloyd Berkner observed in these pages, would bring transformative effects. The United States could not risk losing out, Berkner argued, but nor should governments allow geopolitical tensions to prevent the technology’s broad benefits from emerging.

En Algérie, les commentaires non autorisés sur l’économie exposent à des sanctions

LeMonde / Afrique - Tue, 20/10/2026 - 05:45
La condamnation à quatre ans de prison d’un universitaire pour ses propos sur l’industrie extractive fait suite à la rétrogradation d’un ministre en vue en raison de ses propos dénonçant l’envolée des prix de la tomate.

Philippine Senator Files Resolution Seeking Chinese Ambassador’s Expulsion

TheDiplomat - Tue, 20/10/2026 - 05:23
Jing Quan prompted controversy last week when he told reporters that China could "easily win" a war against the Philippines.

Au Mali, plus de 40 civils tués par des hommes armés dans la région de Ménaka, selon des sources locales

LeMonde / Afrique - Tue, 20/10/2026 - 02:24
Ces attaques sanglantes ont visé des campements appartenant majoritairement à la communauté des Daoussahak, dont est issu le groupe armé Mouvement pour le salut de l’Azawad, proche de la junte au pouvoir à Bamako, d’après des sources interrogées par l’Agence France-Presse.

Myanmar Coup Administration Releases Photos of Detained Leader Aung San Suu Kyi

TheDiplomat - Tue, 20/10/2026 - 00:44
The photos reportedly show the 81-year-old receiving two books and a sealed diplomatic package from Britain's King Charles III.

France Orders Curfews Amid Widespread Rioting

Foreign Policy - Mon, 19/10/2026 - 22:46
More than half a million people joined anti-government protests over the weekend.

In Israel, Election Day Is Just the Beginning of the Story

Foreign Policy - Mon, 19/10/2026 - 21:56
The real action starts after polls close and the coalition wrangling begins.

Why Is France Perpetually Rioting?

Foreign Policy - Mon, 19/10/2026 - 21:03
Protest and radicalization are the answer to an authoritarian, centralized state.

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