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Russia’s Influence in the Balkans
The Balkans have long been a source of tension between Russia and the West, with Moscow cultivating allies there as the EU and NATO expand into the region. The war in Ukraine could be shifting the calculus.
What Are the UN Sustainable Development Goals?
The United Nation’s ambitious development agenda aims to protect people and the planet via seventeen goals. But experts say governments aren’t doing enough to implement them.
What Does the Inter-American Development Bank Do?
The Inter-American Development Bank aims to bolster economic and social development in Latin America and the Caribbean, but critics say reforms are needed.
What Is Hamas?
The Palestinian militant group has struggled to govern Gaza and remains committed to violently resisting Israel. Its surprise attack against Israel in 2023 threatens a wider conflagration in the Middle East.
What Is the Iran Nuclear Deal?
Diplomacy to revive this arms control agreement has faced multiple stumbling blocks, including Iran’s nuclear advances and its links to conflicts in the Gaza Strip and Ukraine.
U.S. Disaster Relief at Home and Abroad
The U.S. government responds to scores of disasters each year in coordination with foreign, state, and local partners, but more frequent and severe storms, fires, and floods are straining resources.
What Is the U.S. Federal Reserve?
Over the past decade, the Fed kept interest rates low while it deployed trillions of dollars in stimulus and expanded its regulatory oversight. Now, the central bank is back in the spotlight for its battle against inflation.
What Is Hezbollah?
Military experience gained from fighting in Syria’s civil war and decades of clashes with Israel has strengthened the Iran-backed group, but politically, its clout among Lebanon’s populace may be waning.
The World Bank Group’s Role in Global Development
Since its founding in 1944, the World Bank has evolved from a lender focused on European reconstruction to the preeminent international institution for economic development and poverty reduction.
What Does the G20 Do?
The Group of Twenty, an informal gathering of many of the world’s largest economies, is the premier global forum for discussing economic issues. But it has faced divisions over trade, climate change, and the war in Ukraine.
Haiti’s Troubled Path to Development
Hobbled by foreign interventions, political instability, and natural disasters, the former French colony is paralyzed by multiple crises.
The Belarus-Russia Alliance: An Axis of Autocracy in Eastern Europe
Russia has renewed its long-stalled push for unification with Belarus, using the country as a launchpad for its war against Ukraine and a hardening bulwark against NATO rivals to the west.
The Contentious U.S.-China Trade Relationship
Trade between the world’s two biggest economies has ballooned in recent decades, bringing significant benefits but also perils that have led to calls to rethink the relationship.
What Is Temporary Protected Status?
Temporary protected status has long been used as a humanitarian solution for migrants who are unable to return home safely, but efforts to give them a path to citizenship have reignited the debate around the U.S. immigration policy.
Africa’s ‘Leaders for Life’
Sub-Saharan Africa is home to many of the world’s longest-ruling heads of state. Pro-democracy advocates have at times successfully stopped presidents from extending their mandates, but the authoritarian trend could be accelerating.