Philippa Kaur

The United States has sent envoys and personnel on at least 11 occasions to Lebanon in the last nine months to bring the November 2024 American-mediated Israeli-Lebanese ceasefire agreement to fruition. A Trump administration proposal from the beginning of August now places a December 31 deadline for realizing the agreement — more than 13 months… Continue reading The Excruciating Exceptionalism of Lebanon
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When the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) signed a five-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Doha this month, the announcement was framed as a regional milestone. The agreement establishes a framework for cofinancing infrastructure projects across Asia and the Pacific, with energy listed among several priority sectors. It does… Continue reading What ADB and Qatar’s New Partnership Means for Indonesia’s Energy Future
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How do democracies die? With thunderous applause? Padme certainly thinks so, but would Polybius agree? The ancient Greeks were, quite reasonably, concerned by this question, because their democracies died all the time. In fact, this happened so much that the most eminent philosophers and historians of the classical period developed a theory that rationalizes the… Continue reading The Fall of Democracy is a Markov Process
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The international community may be standing on the edge of a grave political miscalculation. After years of dismal and frustrating diplomatic efforts, global and regional actors continue to pursue a peace process in Yemen that risks handing the Houthis — an armed, religiously ideologically driven movement — effective hegemony over the South. The current trajectory… Continue reading The Houthis’ Southern Ambition: A Threat the International and Regional Community Must Never Ignore
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Editor-in-Chief Atul Singh and Kent Jenkins Jr., a former political reporter from The Washington Post turned communications consultant, discuss America’s “forbidden C-word:” class. They argue that class shapes opportunity, identity and political behavior, even as Americans prefer a national story of rugged individualism. Jenkins frames himself as a class migrant — someone who grows up… Continue reading FO° Podcasts: The Forbidden C-word, Class in America
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For writers, the future has long been a tricky terrain. While the past can prove unsettling and the present uncomfortable, the future seems to free the mind from reality’s restraints and let the imagination soar. Yet it has also proven full of political pitfalls. Sometimes writers can tweak a trend of their moment to produce… Continue reading Ending the American Dream by 2029?
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On December 7, the eve of the Feast of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, the Catholic representation of the sinless Virgin Mary, thousands of protesters gathered in over 20 Brazilian cities to petition a wave of unbridled violence against women. In Sao Paulo, the country’s largest city and the epicenter of gruesome events, almost… Continue reading To Live Without Fear: Brazilian Protests Denounce Rise in Gender-Based Violence
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Billionaire entrepreneur and Shark Tank host Mark Cuban has recently been in the news and appeared before the Senate to advocate for health care reform to lower drug prices. His biggest targets are Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), the entities that negotiate prices with drugmakers and pharmacies on behalf of public and private health insurance plans.… Continue reading What Mark Cuban Gets Right and Wrong About PBMs
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