Annalena baerbock

Thursday

Jacob Heilbrunn

Biden is the war president Ukraine needs

Joe Biden is upping the ante in Ukraine. Even as Vladimir Putin directs a fresh barrage of missiles, Biden is apparently planning a trip to Europe next month to deliver a major address on the anniversary of the Russian invasion and announce a substantial military aid package for Kyiv. Good for him. A speech in Poland or Lithuania — both leaders in the struggle against Russian aggression — will strengthen NATO and demonstrate that a year into the conflict, unity, not dissension, prevails when it comes to confronting Putin’s revanchist ambitions. At every step, Biden has checked Putin, who assumed he could invade and occupy Ukraine in a thrice.

Tuesday

Daniel DePetris

The Taliban’s rough year in power

Next month will mark the first anniversary of the Taliban’s second stint in power in Afghanistan after a twenty-year insurgency against the US-backed government. In August 2021, Taliban fighters, flush with captured American military equipment and the jubilation of victory, were openly walking the streets of Kabul. While the disgraced Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, was preparing for a life of exile in the United Arab Emirates, Taliban officials were converting his offices into their headquarters. The Taliban’s first year in power, however, hasn’t been pretty. The group has quickly come to understand that administering a poor and faction-prone country is a lot more difficult than taking up arms against a deeply unpopular, corrupt, foreign-dependent government.

Thursday

Katja Hoyer

Is Germany about to go Green?

From our UK edition

Angela Merkel never quite managed to appoint a successor. Her 16 years at the helm of Europe’s largest democracy has seen every potential challenger either annihilated or neutered. For all her motherly charms, Mutti Merkel is a merciless political operator. The Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister, the Christian Social Union, seem to have settled on a political incompetent to lead them into September’s federal elections. Armin Laschet is, at least for now, set to become the bland, monotone heir to Merkelism — the result of a stitch-up that may yet unravel. Pandemic-stricken Germans are growing tired of the CDU: roughly a quarter of its voters have melted away since the start of the year. Meanwhile, the country’s Green party is surging.