Best of the fortnight - 21 October 2022

Each fortnight BISA Director, Juliet Dryden, scours the internet for IR-related content that might interest you. Here she brings you this week's best readings and podcasts to keep you up to date with what's happening around the world.

Global politics

• As we enter a new era of instability, we need new institutions. What should they look like? Mike O’Sullivan & Christos Cabolis for Prospect Magazine
• Podcast: Climate activist Greta Thunberg in conversation with pop icon Björk – on protest, art and why politicians fail. World Review from The New Statesman.

Russia and Ukraine

• The End of the Post-Soviet Order. How Putin’s war has hurt Russia in Central Asia and the Caucasus.   Marlene Laurelle for Foreign Affairs
• Ukraine’s path to victory. How Ukraine can take back all its territory. Andriy Zagorodnyuk in Foreign Affairs
• A tale of two generals. How the Ukrainian military turned the tide.  Mike Ryan for Engelsberg Ideas
• How the West is helping Ukraine beat Russia’s missiles. From the Economist 
• Ukraine’s war. Putin’s off ramp and why he is likely to take it. Rod Thornton for the Conversation
• How Russia is seizing on discontent in Moldova. Evghenii Ceban for Open Democracy
• How the Biden administration is responding to Putin’s threats to go nuclear. Christoph Bluth for the Conversation
• Why the world can’t afford to let Russia get away with land grab.  Joseph O’Mahoney for the Conversation
• Podcast: Putin's strikes: the view from Kyiv.  Listen to the New Statesman team discuss the recent attacks by Russia on Central Kyiv - the devastation wrought by the strikes, the response from the city’s residents, and what it signals about Vladimir Putin’s willingness to raise the stakes after Russia’s recent setbacks.   World Review from the New Statesman
• Podcast:  Ukraine with Richard Haass. How will it end? Listen to Gabrielle Sierra for Why it Matters at the Council on Foreign Relations
• Podcast: The Story of Russia, with Orlando Figes. No other country has been so divided over its own past as Russia. To understand what Russia’s future holds we need to unravel the ideas and meanings of its history. From Intelligence Squared.

UK and Europe

• Don’t blame Brexit. Can we blame Truss’s economic fiasco on the decision to leave Europe?  If only Britain’s malaise were that simple. Tom McTague for the Atlantic
• The Shakespearean tragedy of Liz Truss. The final act is upon her. Kristina Murkett in the Spectator
• Human rights violations in Greece. Gemma Bird for the Conversation
• How Italian activists are fighting for abortion rights. Claudia Torrisi for Open Democracy
• Italy’s election is a case study in a new phase for the radical right. Daniele Albertazzi and Mattia Zulianello in the Conversation
• Podcast: Economic anarchy in the UK. Planet Money by NPR.

China

• Party of one. The CCP Congress and Xi Jinping’s quest to control China. Jude Blanchette for Foreign Affairs
• Xi Jinping shows the world he is taking a tougher line. Xi opens the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party with a political report which demonstrates  both change and continuity in the approach to leadership. Yu Jie for Chatham House
• Podcast: Where will Xi Jinping take China next? During his decade-long reign in China, Xi Jinping has amassed more power and wielded it more ruthlessly than any leader since Mao Zedong. At the upcoming Chinese Communist Party congress, Xi is expected to secure an unprecedented third term as leader. Host Anne McElvoy asks Kevin Rudd, president of the Asia Society Policy Institute and a former prime minister of Australia, what to expect from the next era of Xi’s rule and the implications that could have for China and the world.  From the Economist Asks.

USA

• Biden is now all-In on taking out China. The US president has committed to rapid decoupling whatever the consequences.  Jon Bateman for Foreign Policy
• Can democracy exist without liberalism? Shadi Hamid in the Atlantic.

Middle East

• Khamenei’s Dilemma. Christopher de Bellaigue for The New York Review of Books
• Hijab protests challenge legitimacy of Islamic Republic. Scott Lucas for the Conversation
• Iran privately menaces EU capitals against sanctions. Stephanie Liechtenstein, Jacopo Barigazzi, Hans von der Burchard, and Paul de Villepin for Politico
• Hijab law in Iran over the decades: the continuing battle for reform. Sahar Maranlou for The Conversation
• What Afghans want the rest of the world to know. Bushra Seddique for The Atlantic

Africa

• Burkina Faso coup raises questions about growing Russian involvement in west Africa. Emma Heywood, Emmanuel Klimis, Lassané Yaméogo, and Marie Fierens for The Conversation
• Peace Talks for Tigray Delayed. Michelle Gavin for Council on Foreign Relations
• Podcast: Bloody and forgotten: Conflict in eastern Congo. The Intelligence from The Economist.

South America

• Podcast: Lula v. Bolsonaro.  Former president Lula faces the incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro, in the final round of voting in the Brazilian elections. The LRB considers the history of both candidates, their supporters and campaigns, and what’s at stake in the contest.

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