Diplomacy - Diplomacy & Politics (Page 2)

A Table in Islamabad

The delegations arrived. The table was set. Nobody agreed what was on it. Iran’s ten-point proposal exists in two versions — one in Farsi, one in English — and they say different things. Exhaustion sometimes achieves what reason cannot. But exhaustion without clarity is not diplomacy.

By Sunny Peter

/ 10 Apr 2026

Not Iran. Netanyahu.

The real obstacle to the ceasefire was never in Tehran. It was in Jerusalem. While Washington and Tehran were negotiating, Israel launched a hundred strikes on Lebanon on the ceasefire’s first day. The question is not whether Trump can reach a deal with Iran. It is whether he can with Netanyahu.

By Sunny Peter

/ 8 Apr 2026

The Price of Impunity

Washington launched the US-Israel war on Iran without consulting a single ally and is now surprised the world will not follow. A superpower without allies is an island with a large military budget. The willingness to look away — once extended — does not return on request.

By Sunny Peter

/ 3 Apr 2026

Spain Shows Spine

France criticised and kept its bases open. Germany stayed quiet and offered Ramstein. Spain said what every European government privately believed: we are a sovereign country and will not participate in an illegal war. Consistency, in European foreign policy, is the rarest form of courage.

By Sunny Peter

/ 2 Apr 2026

The Indispensable Bad Actor

Pakistan seeded the nuclear crisis it is now asked to resolve. Abdul Qadeer Khan transferred centrifuge designs to Iran. Washington pardoned Islamabad without consequence. Now the same Washington routes its Iran diplomacy through Pakistan. The bad actor designation expires when you become useful.

By Sunny Peter

/ 30 Mar 2026

The Dignity Deficit: When Leaders Stopped Being Serious

There was a time when the men and women who led nations understood the office demanded something of them. That seriousness — imperfect, sometimes hypocritical, but real — has largely gone. What replaced it is performance. The world is run by people who confuse visibility with leadership.

By Sunny Peter

/ 21 Mar 2026

The Dignity Deficit: When Leaders Stopped Being Serious

The Bargain That Broke: How the Iran War Shattered the Abraham Accords' Founding Logic

The Abraham Accords were built on a premise: Arab states could normalise with Israel in exchange for security guarantees and American backing. The US-Israel war on Iran shattered that premise. The Accords still exist on paper. The logic that held them together does not.

By Sunny Peter

/ 9 Mar 2026

The Bargain That Broke: How the Iran War Shattered the Abraham Accords' Founding Logic

Semiconductor Chessboard: How the US-China AI Race is Redrawing Global Alliances and Diplomatic Strategy

The US-China rivalry has found its sharpest edge in semiconductors. Washington uses export controls to choke Chinese access to advanced chips. Beijing races to build domestic capacity. Every state in between is being forced to choose sides in a contest they did not start.

By Sunny Peter

/ 12 Nov 2025

Semiconductor Chessboard: How the US-China AI Race is Redrawing Global Alliances and Diplomatic Strategy

The New Scramble for Syria: Turkey, Iran, Russia, and the Gulf States Jockey for Power in Post-Assad Syria

Assad is gone. The scramble has begun. Turkey wants buffer zones. Iran wants its corridor. Russia wants its bases. The Gulf states want influence without commitment. Every outside power has a stake and an agenda. The Syrians are, once again, the last consideration.

By Sunny Peter

/ 8 Nov 2025

The New Scramble for Syria: Turkey, Iran, Russia, and the Gulf States Jockey for Power in Post-Assad Syria

Syria's New Era: Ahmed Al-Sharaa's Historic Washington Visit Marks Potential Shift in US-Middle East Relations

Ahmed Al-Sharaa’s visit to Washington was the most consequential meeting between a Syrian leader and an American president in decades. It signals a potential reset — but the conditions attached, and the history behind them, counsel caution before calling it a breakthrough.

By Sunny Peter

/ 8 Nov 2025

Syria's New Era: Ahmed Al-Sharaa's Historic Washington Visit Marks Potential Shift in US-Middle East Relations

Putin Cancels Russia-Arab Summit as Middle East Influence Wanes

Vladimir Putin cancelled the Russia-Arab summit without explanation. The cancellation is itself the explanation. Russia is overextended, its credibility in the Middle East strained by the Iran conflict, and the Arab states it once courted are recalibrating toward Washington and Beijing.

By Sunny Peter

/ 15 Oct 2025

Putin Cancels Russia-Arab Summit as Middle East Influence Wanes

They Predicted AI Would Rationalize Diplomacy. It Made Everything Worse

The promise was that AI would make diplomacy more precise — faster analysis, better decision support, reduced miscalculation. What happened instead is that it accelerated information overload, amplified disinformation and gave every actor more tools to confuse the picture.

By Sunny Peter

/ 11 Oct 2025

They Predicted AI Would Rationalize Diplomacy. It Made Everything Worse