Photos of two men speaking each shown as a negative color inside a red and blue circle.
Photos of two men speaking each shown as a negative color inside a red and blue circle.

Kissinger, Brzezinski, and the Promise of Realism

A cynical realism resonates today, but there is a model for fusing power and values.

Essay
Daniel Fried
Two people are silhouetted in a shaft of light as they sit in chairs in a cafe.
Two people are silhouetted in a shaft of light as they sit in chairs in a cafe.

The Most Successful CIA Operation You’ve Never Heard of

How the agency’s program to circulate banned books helped take down the Iron Curtain.

Review
Johannes Lichtman
A large column looms over a small person standing atop a large field of rubble holding up a phone to take a photo.
A large column looms over a small person standing atop a large field of rubble holding up a phone to take a photo.

Life Returns to Palmyra

After more than a decade of exile, locals are finally coming home.

Dispatch
Alex Martin Astley
A grid of book covers for 11 summer fiction releases.
A grid of book covers for 11 summer fiction releases.

The Novels We’re Reading in August

The dog days of summer, from an 18th-century English village to modern-day Tbilisi.

Books
Chloe Hadavas, Allison Meakem
An illustration shows Xi Jinping sitting at a table covered with a red cloth. He cuts a plate and dumpling in half with giant scissors. Other fractured plates and chopsticks litter the table around him.
An illustration shows Xi Jinping sitting at a table covered with a red cloth. He cuts a plate and dumpling in half with giant scissors. Other fractured plates and chopsticks litter the table around him.

Xi Jinping’s War on Dinner Is Hurting China’s Economy

An anti-corruption campaign is chilling consumption.

Argument
Lizzi C. Lee
Two world leaders speak underneath a replica of a clay treaty.
Two world leaders speak underneath a replica of a clay treaty.

Pharaohs, Maharajas, and the Making of a Multipolar World

Examples from non-Western history offer more promising precedents for the end of U.S. hegemony.

Analysis
Amitav Acharya
A woman gestures with her hands clenched near her face and her eyes closed.
A woman gestures with her hands clenched near her face and her eyes closed.

Yoko Tawada’s Quiet Radicalism

In a newly translated collection, the Japanese German author probes what it means to live between languages.

Review
Rhoda Feng
Protestors carry signs as they demonstrate against proposed cuts to Medicaid and Medicare outside City Hall in San Francisco on Sept. 21, 2011.
Protestors carry signs as they demonstrate against proposed cuts to Medicaid and Medicare outside City Hall in San Francisco on Sept. 21, 2011.

Why Don’t Americans Rise up Against Unpopular Policy Anymore?

The last time a political party paid a price for legislation was in 1989.

Analysis
Julian E. Zelizer
A grid showing the covers of 15 new book releases coming this summer.
A grid showing the covers of 15 new book releases coming this summer.

FP’s Books of the Summer

The biggest releases in foreign affairs, history, and economics.

Books
FP Editors
A tourist leans against a sign that reads "Welcome to the People's Temple Jonestown" as two people take photos of them. The sign arches over a muddy dirt road with dense trees and brush on either side.
A tourist leans against a sign that reads "Welcome to the People's Temple Jonestown" as two people take photos of them. The sign arches over a muddy dirt road with dense trees and brush on either side.

After Chernobyl, Jonestown?

Guyana taps into the dark tourism trend by opening the site where cult members purportedly drank the Kool-Aid.

Dispatch
Alexander Wooley
Crew members gather on a dock before the USS Santa Fe as the flags of the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom wave.
Crew members gather on a dock before the USS Santa Fe as the flags of the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom wave.

If AUKUS Is Toast, What Should Australia Do Next?

Amid Elbridge Colby’s review of the submarine deal, three books consider the future of the alliance itself.

Review
Connor O’Brien
An illustration shows the legs and shoes of a person with either foot astride the opening of the Panama Canal. The legs are covered in the stars and stripes of the U.S. flag. A container ship is seen entering the canal.
An illustration shows the legs and shoes of a person with either foot astride the opening of the Panama Canal. The legs are covered in the stars and stripes of the U.S. flag. A container ship is seen entering the canal.

A Man, a Plan, and a Long History of Overplayed Hands

Trump did not invent hardball U.S. diplomacy with Panama. Then, as now, it is doomed to backfire.

Analysis
Tom Long, Carsten-Andreas Schulz
Superman carries a woman through an explosion.
Superman carries a woman through an explosion.

Superman the Interventionist

The new movie chafes against Trump-era politics.

Review
Jordan Hoffman
Empress Farah Pahlavi in coronation attire with crown and robe, followed by attendants, during a royal ceremony in an ornate palace.
Empress Farah Pahlavi in coronation attire with crown and robe, followed by attendants, during a royal ceremony in an ornate palace.

Empress Farah Pahlavi and the Myth of the Secular Shah

Both admirers and critics see Iran’s Pahlavi dynasty as the embodiment of pro-Western modernization. But was it?

Argument
Perin E. Gürel
Nehru leands back to consult with another seated delegate in a crowd of people sitting in rows.
Nehru leands back to consult with another seated delegate in a crowd of people sitting in rows.

Bring Back the Spirit of Bandung

The 1955 conference’s value-based approach to international affairs offers a model for middle powers today.

Argument
Galip Dalay, Faisal Devji, Nathalie Tocci
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