World Politics Review

In-depth news and expert analysis on global affairs. Subscribe here:

[World Politics Review @WPReview]

On May 1, Lebanon—amid an ongoing war—acceded to the treaty banning anti-personnel landmines.

In her latest column for WPR, @charlicarpenter argues the decision is less surprising than it looks.
https://t.co/9YRxMrNigX

[World Politics Review @WPReview]

“The image of a well-heeled island of stability is hard to reconcile with air raid sirens and sudden explosions of Iranian missiles and drones,” @FreddyDeknatel writes in a new analysis for WPR.
https://t.co/dvNy8C41lv

[World Politics Review @WPReview]

Latin America neither develops nor hosts the world’s most powerful AI models, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a spectator in how AI reshapes its economy and politics.
https://t.co/P8xaKmDAm3

[World Politics Review @WPReview]

Xi visited Pyongyang this week for the first time since 2019, but the optics around the visit obscured a more complicated reality: China remains North Korea’s most important economic partner, but it is no longer Kim’s only meaningful patron.
https://t.co/1DS1OHeTR2

[World Politics Review @WPReview]

Despite conflicts straining international humanitarian law, most states still comply with bans on landmines and cluster munitions, WPR columnist @charlicarpenter writes.
https://t.co/9YRxMrNigX

[World Politics Review @WPReview]

The Gulf’s “gilded age” has been brought to a screeching halt by Iranian drones and missiles.

Regional governments are struggling to preserve the narrative of stability, @FreddyDeknatel writes.
https://t.co/dvNy8C41lv

[World Politics Review @WPReview]

Governments don’t need to build a frontier AI model to shape how AI reshapes their economies and politics.

Even without being at the cutting edge, Latin American countries can still decide the terms before those choices are made for them.
https://t.co/P8xaKmDAm3

[World Politics Review @WPReview]

China remains North Korea’s most important partner, but Kim is no longer as dependent on Beijing as he once was—and Beijing knows it, Theresa Lou writes.
https://t.co/1DS1OHeTR2

[World Politics Review @WPReview]

Latin America neither develops nor hosts the world’s most powerful AI models, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a spectator in how AI reshapes its economy and politics, James Bosworth (@bloggingsbyboz) writes.
https://t.co/P8xaKmDAm3

[World Politics Review @WPReview]

Xi visited Pyongyang this week for the first time since 2019, but the visit is best read less as a return to normal than as a sign of how much the regional order has changed, Theresa Lou writes.
https://t.co/1DS1OHeTR2

[World Politics Review @WPReview]

About 1.8 million Nepalis work in Gulf countries, and their remittances make up more than a quarter of Nepal’s GDP.

The Iran war has turned their lifeline into a debt trap, Yam Kumari Kandel writes.
https://t.co/67NqQF96JX

[World Politics Review @WPReview]

Unlike nuclear weapons, AI development doesn’t require a state’s labs, scientists or access to scarce materials.

It only takes one deviation to render a pause moot, @ProfPaulPoast writes.
https://t.co/rccC5NJ99w

[World Politics Review @WPReview]

Indebted migrant workers in the Gulf have always eked out a precarious existence. But the shock of war has taken their hardship to painful new heights, Yam Kumari Kandel writes.
https://t.co/67NqQF96JX

[World Politics Review @WPReview]

Last week, Anthropic called for slowing AI development, citing Cold War nuclear arms control as a model.

WPR columnist @ProfPaulPoast says the comparison doesn’t hold up.

Read why here:
https://t.co/rccC5NJ99w

[World Politics Review @WPReview]

Instead of dealing a knockout blow to Iran’s rulers as he predicted it would, the war threatens to derail Netanyahu’s legacy-burnishing plans.
https://t.co/z99FBQ7s7v

[World Politics Review @WPReview]

Russia’s GPS interference creates a strategic paradox: Each episode of disruption strengthens the political case for the very investments in resilience that Moscow is trying to make more expensive.
https://t.co/HILDZyY4B4

[World Politics Review @WPReview]

For millions of Nepali migrant workers, jobs in the Gulf were once seen as a financial lifeline.

The Iran war has turned that lifeline into a debt trap, Yam Kumari Kandel reports from Kathmandu.
https://t.co/67NqQF96JX

[World Politics Review @WPReview]

If we’ve learned anything from nuclear weapons, columnist @ProfPaulPoast writes, it’s that the ability of humans to take coordinated steps to effectively control existential risks is unlikely to succeed.
https://t.co/rccC5NJ99w

[Candace Rondeaux @CandaceRondeaux]

My latest for @WPReview on Moscow's low-cost disruption strategy and the growing price of NATO resilience: https://t.co/l2B6fXQAHv

[World Politics Review @WPReview]

ON OUR RADAR: In Colombia, far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella is surging in the polls. He calls himself "The Tiger" and has promised to "disembowel the left." A recent poll from @atlas_intel poll, shows him holding a lead against his leftist rival, Ivan Cepeda, ahead of the upcoming presidential run-off election. The survey showed de la Espriella winning 52.6 percent of the vote share to Cepeda’s 44.8 percent.

Cepeda, an ally of outgoing President Gustavo Petro, came in second to de la Espriella in the first round of voting on May 31. But because neither candidate received an outright majority of votes, a second round will be held on June 21. Cepeda initially refused to concede defeat in the first found, but has since acknowledged the results and said he had no evidence of irregularities.

The two now will face each other over sharply competing visions for the country: De la Espriella promises a violent crackdown on armed criminal groups, while Cepeda has pledged to continue the current government’s policy of negotiating with armed rebels and pursuing social reforms. For a deeper look at the violent backdrop of the race and the candidates’ competing visions, read Oliver Lawson’s briefing for WPR, which was published ahead of the first round.

[World Politics Review @WPReview]

Colombians will go to the polls on May 31 to elect a new president in a contest defined by rampant political violence and a spree of bombing attacks, Oliver Lawson writes.
https://t.co/09zG01LrQ8