As China increases its military spending, the Taiwanese president ups the independence ante.

Last summer, UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari was tasked by the Security Council with resolving the question of Kosovo's future status, with support from U.S. and European Union envoys. As the process draws to a close, this United States Institute of Peace briefing discusses potential drivers of conflict in Kosovo during the status decision and in the period thereafter.

The assassination of Pierre Gemayel, a prominent anti-Syrian cabinet minister, further destabilizes a shaky political balance in Lebanon. The nation is left teetering at the edge of a crisis, the effects of which could ripple across the region.

CFR Fellow Steven A. Cook discusses the impact of Pierre Gemayel’s assassination on Lebanese politics. He says Gemayel’s murder marks a return of Syrian influence in Lebanon and presents an opportunity for Hezbollah to consolidate its power.

Alma Guillermoprieto writes about the historical emergence of a grass-roots party in Bolivia. Guillermoprieto argues that the revolution in Bolivia is an anomaly because there is no other country in Latin America where a grass-roots party has taken charge of a government and "whose members are poor and overwhelmingly Indian."

A divided Montenegro voted Sunday to separate from Serbia. The referendum could open a final chapter in the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia.

Joschka Fischer, former foreign minister of Germany, reflected on issues of contingent vs. conditional sovereignty and "the responsibility to protect."

Hussein Agha and Robert Malley challenge the conventional account of the July 2000 Camp David summit and offer their own analysis of the historic event.

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher gave this speech ("The Bruges Speech") to the College of Europe in Bruges, on September 20, 1988. She discussed Britian's sovereignty and the emerging monetary and political union in Europe.