author - oman observer

As European leaders wake up to the reality of Donald Trump’s impending return to the White House, they must take care to avoid two big traps: panic and denial. It won’t be easy, but the stakes are...

With the US election just two months away, European decision-makers have gone from grappling with Trumpian nightmare scenarios – new trade wars, abandoning Ukraine, withdrawing from Nato – to...

Waiting for the US Congress to pass an aid package for Ukraine feels like waiting for Godot. On a recent visit to Washington, I met with officials from President Joe Biden’s administration,...

Not for the first time, the central figure at this year’s Munich Security Conference was someone not in attendance. This year was Donald Trump’s turn.Like most participants at this annual “Davos...

This year’s World Economic Forum in Davos was even more exhausting and bewildering than usual. Politicians love to say that you should never let a crisis go to waste, but even they seemed...

The writer is Director of the European Council on Foreign Relations and author of The Age of Unpeace: How Connectivity Causes ConflictIt took European Union leaders eight hours – a relatively short...

Where will Europe’s borders end? On October 6, EU leaders convened in Granada, Spain, to discuss a question that has captivated Eurocrats, think tanks, and journalists throughout the bloc since the...

US President Joe Biden recently brought the leaders of allies Japan and South Korea to Camp David to discuss how to contain China and counter Russia’s influence, for example in Africa’s Sahel...

The European Parliament elections are still a year away, but political parties across the European Union have already shifted to campaign mode. While the election will undoubtedly feature a wide range...

Ukraine will enter 2023 with wind in its sails. Against all odds, it repelled Russia’s initial attempt to take Kyiv, then recaptured extensive territory around Kharkiv and Kherson, and inflicted...

A nuclear spectre is haunting Europe once again. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a mobilisation of some 300,000 reservists and announced that he will use “all available means”...

Mark LeonardFor seven decades, European integration has been driven by the quest for peace. But since Russia’s war on Ukraine on February 24, Europe has found itself unifying in response to war. The...

“Davos Man” has had a grim 14 years. The late Harvard University political scientist Samuel P Huntington popularised the term in 2004 to describe a new overclass of evangelists for globalisation....

Will the West remain committed to the rules-based international order when it is no longer the one making the rules? That will be one of the most intriguing questions of the next two decades. If there...

Many observers have long assumed that the future of geopolitics will be decided in a sea battle. Yet we could probably learn more by examining the treatment of a few thousand desperate refugees in the...

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) now under way in Glasgow might conclude with a big international agreement. But whatever tactical successes are achieved at COP26, the results are...