The Foreign Desk

In fewer than 100 days in power, Donald Trump has upended his country’s historic alliance with Europe, told the continent that it can no longer rely on security guarantees from the US and launched a …

Nepo-corruption or a politically motivated smear? Andrew Mueller explains why Bangladesh has issued a warrant for the arrest of UK MP Tulip Siddiq. 

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In the days before this year’s edition of the Delphi Economic Forum, Donald Trump launched, and then only partially retreated from, a global trade war in which the EU was a target. Reporting from Del…

Andrew Mueller explains why what could have been a minor diplomatic dispute has sparked a massive feud between Mali and Algeria. 

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As the ceasefire in Gaza falls apart, Tahani Mustafa, Nimrod Goren and Faysal Itani join ‘The Foreign Desk’ to weigh possible paths forward. Is Netanyahu even interested in peace? How will Lebanon fa…

This week Marine Le Pen was convicted of embezzlement and banned from seeking public office for five years. Andrew Mueller explains why the far right cares deeply about law and order – until its own …

Hundreds of thousands of protestors have poured onto Turkey’s streets after president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his authorities arrested Istanbul mayor and presidential candidate, Ekrem İmamoğlu. Sinc…

As the US government scrambles to explain why the editor in chief of ‘The Atlantic’ was added to a group chat discussing war plans, Andrew Mueller considers just how serious a security breach this is…

The unloading of Bashar al-Assad in December was a hopeful moment for Syria. The installation of his successor, jihadist commander Ahmed al-Sharaa, was a more nervous one. We discuss the mood among c…

Following Rwanda’s expulsion of Belgium’s diplomats this week, Andrew Mueller explains the European nation’s troubled history of involvement in Rwanda and the DRC.

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‘The Foreign Desk’ speaks to leaders from Nato’s Baltic members about the vexing, existential questions they face: what happens if Russia strikes one of them? Is Nato’s Article 5 the unassailable sec…

Rodrigo Duterte, the former president of the Philippines, has been arrested and sent to The Hague, where he will face charges for crimes against humanity. Andrew Mueller explains the former president…

It is clear by now that Donald Trump’s second administration will not be a rerun of the first. Why has the United States tilted away from Europe? Is there any method to the apparent madness? And how …

What shape will the war in Ukraine take now that president Trump has paused all military aid? Andrew Mueller unpacks the nation’s prospects following Friday’s showdown in the Oval Office. 

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Russia’s rampage in Ukraine has had knock-on effects elsewhere, few if any of them positive. At the Munich Security Conference, Georgia’s president Salome Zourabichvili told us how she’s fighting Rus…

As security risks on the European continent rise and the US retreats from its historic role, will Germany be able to shake off its history and arm itself to meet the moment?

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In the week following US vice president JD Vance’s explosive speech at the Munich Security Conference, European leaders scrambled to two emergency summits to consider the prospect of American detachm…

Former Mauritius PM Pravind Jugnauth was arrested last weekend after the country’s Financial Crimes Commission recovered suitcases full of banknotes worth over €2m. We explain why the scandal is not …

Between the infrastructure disaster that has sparked prolonged protests and the ongoing troubles with Kosovo, Albania and Nato, is Serbia OK? Andrew Mueller speaks to the country’s minister of foreig…

Why has New Zealand fallen out with the Cook Islands and Kiribati? And what does China have to do with it? Andrew Mueller explains. 

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