Opinions
Editor-in-chief Alessandro Cassieri
At this stage in history that, unlike what was indiscreetly said at the end of the Cold War, has not reached its end, Opinions aims to become a place for reflection in the face of the complexity of the international picture.
The pace of news is now accompanied by the pace of comments. Dissemination of viewpoints revives the chorus that is both cacophonous and conformist.
Opinions opposes this scheme to another one, based on the authors’ competence. Those who are free to express themselves outside of any ideological grid and offer, with the originality of their contributions, a credible and thoughtful analysis of modern times.
Opinions #40/24
Here it is, before our eyes, the New World Order. It was supposed to be a world capable of coexistence at all latitudes once it was freed from the grip of nuclear bipolarism. When the Wall fell, the USSR collapsed, communism disintegrated, and all possible enemies disappeared from the horizon, [...]
Opinions #39/24
A tough American week for Ukrainian president. Anticipating the title, he was finally able to present his plan to end the war with Russia. His main interlocutors were the occupants – current, former, and future – of the White House. And that was already a problem. Zelensky has concomitantly lost [...]
Opinions #38/24
“The difficult thing is not to start a war, but to end it”. Henry Kissinger displayed this wisdom not without a note of self-criticism having faced more than one conflict. The prince of twentieth-century American diplomacy attracted few supporters given the military and bellicose present of his Euro-Atlantic world. However, [...]
Opinions #37/24
It could be another bitter September for Vladimir Zelensky. A year ago, in these days, he had to state the failure of the widely announced spring counteroffensive. The move was meant to lead Kiev’s forces to recapture Donbass and Crimea after they pushed Moscow’s soldiers back across the border. The [...]
Opinions #36/24
Declared success, frightening defeat. Germany archived the results of the vote in the states of Thuringia and Saxony with confidence that the political phase was coming to an end. At the national level, the “traffic light” coalition led by Chancellor Scholz, fragile and turbulent from the start, seems doomed to [...]
Opinions #35/24
There is a curious analogy between Zelensky’s and Netanyahu’s strategies. Both conflicts, close to Europe, have as their common denominator America’s modest interest in defusing them: see the revelations appearing in April and May 2024 in the Foreign Affairs magazine and the New York Times about the agreement reached in [...]
Opinions #34/24
The American election campaign is entering a crucial phase with a flurry of news regarding the two candidates. Kamala Harris inherited the role of Democratic Party leader from the trembling hands of Joe Biden in the blink of an eye, in a flood of enthusiastic commentary from her supporters, her [...]
Opinions #33/24
Conceived three thousand years ago in the cradle of Western civilization, the Olympic Truce has not always achieved its goal. And this existed already in antiquity. In recent times – it was 1992 – the (seeming) atmosphere of calm after the end of the Cold War prompted the International Olympic [...]
Opinions #32/24
A lot has been written and said about China and Russia in the last two years. Putin and Xi Jinping’s alliance was considered “temporary.” Because supporting Russia in its war with Ukraine was counterproductive for Beijing. Because the risk of US sanctions (and thus the G7 bloc) would force Xi [...]
Opinions #31/24
Expansion of the conflict is threatened and increasingly unlikely. With the usual actors accusing each other of genocide. Evoking the worst ghosts of the past, from Hitler to Saddam Hussein, and their tragic fates. It is the Middle East, this sector that has been tense for decades over the unresolved [...]
Opinions #30/24
International politics is indeed experiencing turbulent weeks. The concentration of over fifty pre-election consultations scheduled for this year predicted a lively period, but the present offers us much more. In the West, that is, in the USA and Europe, all principal leaders are facing new challenges as they try to [...]
Opinions #29/24
“Not an inch more.” Two and a half centimeters, or even less, and we’d already be commenting on the assassination of Donald Trump. Instead, he was saved by a miracle, because the sniper who shot him knew how to shoot, big time. Therefore, this is an attempt on the life [...]
Opinions #28/24
It was supposed to be a traumatizing move to get out of political instability. In the second year of his second mandate, with the second government resting on an uncertain and random majority, Macron played a counterattack to block the advance of right-winger Marine Le Pen, who won European elections [...]
Opinions #27/24
The fact that 2024 would become the year of many important electoral contests was known. That there would be a concentration of votes within a few weeks in early summer was not. Nor was it possible to imagine the sensational impact of the results concentrated in a few days. We’ll [...]
Opinions #26/24
The two traditional party candidates agree with each other and with a couple of media outlets, excluding independent candidates, particularly one, the most insidious, from a crucial moment in the campaign. It takes place in the USA, where Biden and Trump, divided over everything and ready to accuse each other [...]
Opinions #25/24
“G7? In this format, it no longer makes sense. Today, to represent weight and interests at the global level, it has to include a dozen countries.” Valéry Giscard d’Estaing said so. It was 2017, and the inventor of the annual gathering of the world’s “greats” had this to say to [...]
Opinions #24/24
Europe archives its elections with few certainties and many unknowns. Among the undeniable facts is the general tendency of the electorate to shift the political axis to the right in the 27 member states. As a result of the growing dissatisfaction with the economic condition coupled with the constant worry [...]
Opinions #23/24
International public opinion is stunned by the events and prospects dancing furiously on the horizon. In America, Donald Trump’s political and judicial affairs present a disturbing picture of the divisiveness that characterizes the democratic structure of the United States. The taboo on preventive delegitimization of opponent’s victory is broken. The [...]
Opinions #22/24
Deaf to all advice, warnings, and threats, Netanyahu continues to pursue his strategy. Scorched earth in the disputed territories, as Palestinian citizens pay an impressive price for the hunt for Hamas terrorists unleashed by the Israeli army after the October 7 security debacle. A stubbornness that has many personal and [...]
Opinions #21/24
Both the outcome of the eight-month-long war in Gaza and the post-war structure of the occupied territories remain unknown. The operation announced in Rafah continues to raise international concern about the further devastating impact it could have on the Palestinian civilian population. An arrest warrant for Netanyahu for war crimes [...]
Opinions #20/24
In this phase of polycrisis, marked by two wars, the seeds of a new post-war structure are destined to manifest themselves when the guns fall silent. And there are already those who are eager to understand who will lose the most in a dynamic, which, on the contrary, could offer [...]
Opinions #19/24
The bitter ballot box of voting for the British government. Local elections have created a country that is increasingly skeptical and distrustful of the Conservative Party. One after another, four Conservative prime ministers have failed to make the Brexit they favored less of a failure. Frustration that leads to powerlessness [...]
Opinions #18/24
In recent weeks, a new perspective on the conflict in Ukraine seems to be gaining momentum. In the West. Assessing the risk of an indefinite continuation of the conflict with Moscow underscores the limits of the arsenal of possibilities. Along with the usual determination to support Kiev, top Euro-Atlantic diplomatic [...]
Opinions #17/24
Universities are rioting, students get arrested, rectors divided. The Gaza effect is unfolding in American society with unpredictable consequences for the November presidential election. And then there’s the war in Ukraine. By releasing another $60 billion in Kiev’s favor, Biden is trying to celebrate a victory, but his foreign policy, [...]
Opinions #16/24
Campaigning in the USA for the November presidential election is under the lens of fairness. The tug-of-war – whether to pursue Trump or not – is in its early stages, and it remains to be seen which decision will carry more weight in the race against Biden for the White [...]
Opinions #15/24
Washington and Brussels seem to have exhausted their confidence. Ukraine is no longer destined to win the war, but must come to terms with the anticipation of defeat on the battlefield or a substantially crippled “victory.” That is, without territories controlled by Moscow. It is an innovation that political leaders [...]
Opinions #14/24
Macron’s pirouettes and Scholz’s stuttering say a lot about Europe’s difficulties in the face of a crisis on its doorstep. But they don’t say everything. After a brief period, in which they sought to build their “sovereignty” – in the diplomatic, military, financial, technological, and medical spheres – the leadership [...]
Opinions #13/24
This is an epochal turning point. And this time the hyperbole is not exaggerated. The United States removes its shield, and the UN passes a resolution demanding that Israel establish a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu is furious, accusing Biden of retreating from the traditional American position. But what’s [...]
Opinions #12/24
In a scenario that has already been tested, numerous elections scheduled for 2024 will also be characterized by complaints of foreign interference. This will be true for the US presidential election in November, as well as the European Parliament elections in June. A trend where complaints are addressed to foreign [...]
Opinions #11/24
The Israeli army’s military offensive continues no matter what. That is, in spite of… nothing. UN ceasefire resolutions are blocked by US veto. Sanctions against Netanyahu are only hypothetical. The unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state by some European governments is still on paper. An embarrassed Biden remains inert. In [...]
Opinions #10/24
The US presidential election is eight months away, but everything is already revolving around that deadline. Pending an understanding of who will be the point of contact in Washington, international politics is proceeding at random. At least on the Western Front. Macron, Scholz, and Sunak are in the agony of [...]
Opinions #09/24
In American politics, crucial questions arise in the run-up to the presidential election in November. Next week, Tuesday’s Republican primary in 15 states will determine the balance of power between Donald Trump and his staunch opponent Nikki Haley, who came out beaten from the polls in “her own” South Carolina, [...]
Opinions #08/24
The current military situation, with one conflict in Europe and another in the Middle East, suppresses every emergency on the planet, starting with the environmental and climate emergency. Even the most virtuous countries have sharply reduced their targets and investments. Dominant is the “exposure” that constantly forces one to address [...]
Opinions #07/24
Surprise, annoyance, resentment. The Russian president’s interview with a conservative American journalist was branded a lie before it was even listened to. A conditioned reflex that even in liberal democracies emerges from afar. Just as the crisis that has turned Ukraine into a battlefield came from afar. A war that [...]
Opinions #06/24
With the election campaign in full swing, the confrontation between Biden and Trump is destined to escalate. The incumbent is reportedly rebuilding his advantage, but he has to deal with Democratic voters concerned about his foreign policy. Meanwhile, the possibility of Trump winning the presidential election in November worries the [...]
Opinions #05/24
“Nothing will ever be the same,” they said after the 2008 economic crisis. Then we repeated this during the covid pandemic. And again, with the war in Ukraine. Now all the innovations that have emerged from these crises seem about to truly change our horizon. Starting with globalization, which needs [...]
Opinions #04/24
Third Wheel
In American presidential elections there is a strict rule: a third candidate who belongs to a minority party or is completely independent is destined not to win. But he almost always contributes to the loss of someone else. This has happened several times even in the last thirty years. In [...]
Opinions #03/24
The playbook
Biden attacks Trump, and a few days later the former Republican president attacks the current occupant of the White House. Normal political confrontation less than a year before the elections. But these are not rapier skirmishes, but very heavy durlindan blows. And the reference to the military epic in this [...]
Opinions #02/24
War on Ice
The rhetoric of the season did not disappoint. Over time, “General Frost” returned to prove himself in the history of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Scenarios with ice-covered mud and temperatures well below freezing, when everything becomes ossified, are both suitable. “Trench warfare, very little movement along the front line.” A minimalist [...]
Opinions #01/24
Great Electoral Challenge
The new year will see elections held in about fifty countries around the world. In total, more than two billion people will be called to the polls, which is a quarter of the world’s population. An electoral round that concerns, among others, the United States, Europe as a whole, Taiwan, [...]
Opinions #52/23
Boomerang Effect
New year, old conflicts. But above all, the war, which has been ongoing since 2022, is affecting European geopolitics far beyond initial forecasts. It took some time for EU countries to become full-fledged actors in the dispute between Russia and Ukraine. First they focused on a quick solution, whatever that [...]
Opinions #51/23
EU: Accessions and Illusions
Notes of jubilation from various European offices accompanied the EU’s decision to officially open the procedure for starting negotiations on the participation of Ukraine and Moldova in the Brussels Club. This club is becoming less and less exclusive. They promise to include the countries of the Western Balkans and even [...]
Opinions #50/23
Ghost of Kennedy
A stone in a pond that risks creating noise. It was thrown by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nephew of the assassinated president and son of Robert, who himself was shot at the end of a rally during the campaign that promoted him to the presidency of the United States. RFK [...]
Opinions #49/23
Kissinger Centenary
What makes a great politician? In history, among the outstanding figures who formed states and nations, there are individuals who can be judged differently, even oppositely. Great statesmen or ruthless interpreters of unlimited power. From Julius Caesar to Alexander the Great, from Genghis Khan to Tamerlane and Napoleon, the relevance [...]
Opinions #48/23
The story of one revolution
The festive commemoration that was generally offered on the occasion of the anniversary of the Kiev revolution, which ten years ago was called Euromaidan, certainly had the advantage of being timely. Timely because exactly ten years after the start of the protests that ushered in a very long season of [...]
Opinions #47/23
Sundown
What is happening in Ukraine? Nearly twenty months into the conflict, which monopolized the media and international political debate, a curtain of rapprochement has descended on the war. Messages from the front are now less noteworthy. Smaller headlines and shorter articles, more individual stories. Of course, cooling can be physiological, [...]
Opinions #46/23
Negotiators needed
After the first weeks of disorientation in the face of a new Israeli-Palestinian war, we are witnessing a diplomatic frenzy that, starting in Washington, crosses the Middle East, reaches Europe, looks at China, and worries about Russia. The activism organized by the White House has many causes. The main one [...]
Opinions #45/23
We must have the courage to “face the whole truth” about what is happening between Israelis and Palestinians. Barack Obama tells Americans this after a month of war. The former president, who during his eight years in the White House has persistently sought to find a solution to a problem [...]
Мнения #45/23
Мы должны иметь смелость «принять всю правду» о том, что происходит между израильтянами и палестинцами. Барак Обама говорит об этом американцам после месяца войны. Бывший президент, который на протяжении восьми лет своего пребывания в Белом доме настойчиво пытался найти решение проблемы, продолжающейся с 1948 года, нарушил свое молчание перед лицом [...]
Opinions #44/23
President Biden says he doesn’t trust the numbers provided by the Palestinians. Gaza health officials estimate the number of casualties from the Israeli counteroffensive to be in the thousands, but he is not convinced. He believes that this could be propaganda. But the carpet bombing and the plight of two [...]
