Understand the World. One Perspective at a Time.

American “Micro-Militarism,” or How Defeat in the Iran War Will Accelerate American Global Decline

As great powers decline, they engage in “micro-militarism,” extreme but unsustainable military actions aimed at restoring their fading prestige. We’ve historically seen this in Athens, Portugal, Spain and Britain, and... Read full article

Alfred W. McCoy - May 28, 2026

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Politics
Neither Fukuyama nor Huntington: The Age of Fragmented Interdependence
by Maciej Bazela
Outside the Box
Hyperreal Politics: When the Simulation Becomes Too Absurd to Satirize — Part 3
by Peter Isackson
Economics and Finance
Capital Deepening and Cognitive Automation
by Masaaki Yoshimori
Central & South Asia
Putin–Xi Summit Was an Exercise in Diplomatic Discipline and Strategic Alignment
by David Mahon

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Mediaphobia — A Timeline of Panic

by Ellis Cashmore

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The Indian Subcontinent’s Hindu–Muslim Divide

by Pocket Dynamo, Atul Singh & Ishtiaq Ahmed

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Easter and Passover Explained: Two Stories, One Crossing

by Liam Roman, Casey Herrmann & Roberta Artemisia Campani

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Understanding the 1975 Autocratic “Emergency” in India

by Vikram K. Malkani, Atul Singh & Lee Thompson-Kolar

World War II timeline, timeline of World War II, World War II, World War 2 timeline, World War II facts, World War II dates, World War II story, story of World War II, History of World War II, World War II History

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The Story of World War II

by Atul Singh, Abul-Hasanat Siddique & Anton Schauble

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What Are Your Plans for Doomsday?

Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove once seemed like savage satire, but today its nightmare logic feels uncomfortably real. The evolution from...

Have Europe’s Banished Devils Returned?

From the postwar boom to today’s fracturing world order, the West’s “glorious” mid-20th century decades of...

A Taste for Genocide: Why the West Can’t Shake Its Most Violent Habits

From the scorched earth of the Thirty Years’ War to the “Strait of Hormuz Apocalypse,” the...

Xi-Trump Summit in Beijing Was Great Theater, Little Substance

The recent US–China summit in Beijing, though symbolically significant as...

by David Mahon

Donroe Doctrine Makes Guyana Key for US Latin America Policy

by Atul Singh

South America Has Tilted Right. Will Colombia Follow?

by German Peinado Delgado & Glenn Ojeda Vega

Turkey’s Shadow War in Sudan

by Hollie McKay

Podcasts

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FO Podcasts: Why Narcoterrorism Still Matters

In this episode of FO Podcasts, Atul Singh and Jeffrey James Higgins examine how narcoterrorism combines organized crime, insurgency and geopolitical conflict. They discuss the rise of synthetic opioids and how cartels in Latin America increasingly resemble paramilitary organizations capable of challenging state authority. Should...

by Jeffrey James Higgins & Atul Singh

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