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August 13, 2026
 

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Mark Leonard
Anti-Brexit protesters waving European Union and Ukrainian flags gather near the Houses of Parliament in London on June 17, ahead of the Brexit referendum's 10th anniversary.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 6, 2026
Beyond Brexit ¡ª and back to Europe
Those who follow only intergovernmental debates in the media might think that nothing has changed in the decade since British voters decided to leave the European Union.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy poses for a group photo with leaders and officials from Europe, the U.S. and NATO at the Chancellery in Berlin on Dec. 15.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2025
Europe faces some tough wartime decisions
On the diplomatic front, Putin¡¯s strategy to ¡°keep the Europeans out, Americans in and the Ukrainians down¡± is paying off, judging by Trump¡¯s increasing pressure on Zelenskyy.
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on Air Force One after his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea, on Oct. 30. During their talks, the two leaders discussed the suspension of rare-earth export controls by China and other issues.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 5, 2025
What Chinese leaders really think of Trump
The Chinese view is that we are entering a prolonged phase of counter-globalization.
French President Emmanuel Macron¡¯s state visit to London earlier this month to meet with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer shows how a changing Europe and shifting global threats could let Britain move past Brexit and help shape a new European security order.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 23, 2025
Britain and Europe are changing together
Britain can help shape the continent¡¯s new security order, so long as it banishes the Brexit mindset.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (left), U.S. President Joe Biden (second from left), German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (second from right) and French President Emmanuel Macron prepare to take a family photo during their "Quad" meeting in Berlin on Oct. 18. Leaders in the West have tried to revive the old order, but Donald Trump¡¯s return to power shows they need a new way of looking at the world.
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2025
Europe after the end of the liberal international order
We were wrong to think that we had secured a golden age of peace at the end of the Cold War. In reality, there was violence everywhere.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump meets with NATO leaders at a plenary session of their summit in Watford, England, in December 2019.?
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 13, 2024
Living in Trump¡¯s world
Europe¡¯s response to Trump¡¯s return will require creativity, resilience and an unshakable commitment to defending its own interests.
French President Emmanuel Macron warns of existential threats to Europe from Russia, China and the U.S.
COMMENTARY / World
May 6, 2024
Is this Macron¡¯s moment to shine?
Underlying all the problems that Europe faces in a new age of geopolitical, economic and climate insecurity is a crisis in leadership.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump attends the NATO summit in Watford, England, in December 2019.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2024
The Trump effect takes Europe
There is a chance that the Trump effect could leave the trans-Atlantic order stronger than it has been for a long time.
Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hold discussions in Kyiv in September 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2023
Europe needs a new Ukraine strategy
The European Union¡¯s decision to start accession talks with Ukraine represents a symbolic victory rather than a practical one.
The European Union finds itself at a crossroads of balancing national borders, economic autonomy and liberal values.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 23, 2023
The geopolitics of EU enlargement
The European bloc appears to be moving toward radical reinvention.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators rally in front of the White House in Washington on Saturday.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 5, 2023
The global consequences of the Israel-Hamas war
The EU¡¯s shambolic response to the Israel-Hamas war has made China¡¯s forceful reaction all the more notable.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 21, 2023
The post-American Middle East
The recent cease-fire between Israel and Islamic Jihad, the detente between Iran and Saudi Arabia and the de-escalation in Yemen have all been accomplished with minimal Western involvement.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 21, 2023
The Ukraine war and European identity
A battle for the soul of Europe is brewing beneath the surface of the Ukraine war and next year¡¯s European Parliament elections could serve as its first battleground.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 19, 2023
Chinese leader Xi Jinping¡¯s idea of a new world order
To present a compelling alternative to China¡¯s vision of world order, the West should stop asking others to defend the existing one and start recruiting partners to build on a new vision.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 1, 2023
When mob diplomacy rules the day
As the recent Chinese balloon saga showed, public opinion is increasingly in the driver¡¯s seat, and it is steering international relations away from open, honest dialogue.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 1, 2023
What to expect from the next round of globalization
There is growing support for the idea that the world is experiencing not ¡®deglobalization¡¯ but rather ¡®re-globalization,¡¯ owing to accelerating changes in energy and technology.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2022
It is time Europe begins Russia-proofing itself
The West, and especially the European Union, must get serious about positioning itself for a protracted and multi-pronged conflict with Vladimir Putin¡¯s Russia.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 2022
Preparing for the long war
Vladimir Putin¡¯s latest moves suggest that Russia is settling in for a long war of attrition that will test European resolve.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 5, 2022
Ukraine¡¯s war viewed from China
Westerners regard Russia¡¯s war as an attack on the rules-based order, but Chinese scholars see it as another harbinger of the final curtain on U.S. and Western hegemony.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 3, 2022
European peace project forced to confront war
Born of the need to preserve peace on a historically war-torn continent, the EU and its political leaders are now being forced to rethink some of their most important principles.
Gut bacteria may be behind many of Â鶹´«Ã½ colorectal cancer cases
A Japanese research team found that a toxin produced by certain E. coli strains, colibactin, caused genetic mutations in nearly half of colorectal cancer cases studied
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
She is Russia¡¯s richest woman. Her business empire is going up in flames.
Tatyana Kim, the head and co-founder of Wildberries, speaks about Ukrainian drone attacks on the company's warehouses in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, at an unidentified location, in this still image from a handout video released on July 31.
Severe tropical storm Chan-hom makes landfall near Tokyo
Severe Tropical Storm Chan-hom made landfall around Ibaraki Prefecture, near Tokyo, on Tuesday night.
What Â鶹´«Ã½ language rules for permanent residency should look like
Potential health care workers hoping to find work in Japan take Japanese language instruction in Jakarta. Not all applicants for permanent residency should be expected to reach this level of proficiency.
Forty-five meters down, a diver races to record a fleeting moment of WWII history
Kingo Wakasa photographs the kamikaze plane wing section he discovered at the USS Emmons wreck site.
Ikarigata closer to emulating older brother Fujinokawa than many think
The future Fujinokawa (third from left) and Ikarigata (right) compete against each other at ages 5 and 3, respectively.
Where do foreign residents in Japan want to die?
The Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery is one of the few cemeteries in Japan that allows burials, albeit with conditions for the deceased, including foreign nationality and permanent residency in Kanagawa Prefecture.
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
As Â鶹´«Ã½ concrete jungles sizzle, urban forestry offers an all-natural fix
People and birds find relief from the sun in Tokyo's Nakano Ward earlier this month. While experts agree that urban greening is crucial to mitigating the impact of climate change, trees are becoming even more scarce in Japanese cities.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Disaster relief workers Taichi Kato (left) and Seiji Yoshimura enter the collapsed living quarters at Kyuganji temple in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture.
What Kumamoto revealed about Â鶹´«Ã½ earthquake readiness
By Alex K.T. Martin

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