Miércoles, 3 de mayo de 2023 (Continuación)

US president Joe Biden (R) and South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol arrive for a joint press conference in the Rose Garden at the White House, April 26, 2023 in Washington, DC. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images.

North Korea’s test of a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is just the latest incident at a time of heightened nuclear risk across the globe, coming alongside Iran’s near weapons-grade uranium enrichment and Russia’s plans to station nuclear weapons in Belarus.

The US has also announced plans to deploy nuclear-armed submarines in the Pacific after requests for security assurances from the Republic of Korea which is increasingly concerned about the threat from North Korea. This announcement comes just weeks after Russia announced the deployment of its own nuclear-armed submarines in the Pacific.

Such an alarming uptick in nuclear-related activities highlights the increasing salience of nuclear weapons in global politics and the problems in nuclear diplomacy, but the multilateral toolkit can still provide effective responses.…  Seguir leyendo »

The full moon appears near the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Colombia on April 7. Joaquin Sarmiento/AFP via Getty Images

Once upon a time, outer space, like the air and seas, was one of the global commons, held jointly for all of humanity. But great power competition, a deficit of rules, and a booming private space economy are eroding that status. The new cold war between the United States and nations such as Russia and China is extending to the cosmos: NATO has declared space an “operational domain”. And like the old Cold War, the new one poses a threat to life on Earth itself, from the dangers of space debris to the possibility of targeting satellites in an already-crowded Low Earth Orbit (an orbit around the Earth at 1,200 miles or less) that so much of modern life is dependent upon.…  Seguir leyendo »

My Country Is Reaching Out to People the West Can’t Stand

Under Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil was an international pariah. Not my words, but those of the former foreign minister: Apparently it was “good to be an outcast”. I do not miss these people.

When Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office in January, after defeating Mr. Bolsonaro, it was widely hoped that he would guide Brazil back to the international mainstream. The early signs were good: In November, even before assuming the presidency, Mr. Lula traveled to COP27 in Egypt, and there was an amiable visit to the United States in February. Then Mr. Lula started going off script. In a frantic few weeks, he made efforts to initiate peace talks in Ukraine, criticized the supremacy of the U.S.…  Seguir leyendo »