June, 2021

• 7 June

  The Other Side of the Digital Coin: Central Bank Digital Currencies and Sanctions

  

  As the economic benefits of central bank digital currencies emerge, so does one of their major downsides: an opportunity to avoid sanctions imposed by governments. Almost every day it seems a new form of digital money emerges, often touted as the next hot idea. But with so many governments indicating …

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• 7 June

  Once Bitten, Twice Shy: The UK Must Provide a Credible Plan for Economic Engagement with Iran

  

  Previous disappointment will lead Iran to expect greater economic certainty in any renewed nuclear negotiations. London must play its part. The Iranian nuclear deal (formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or the JCPOA) has been in tatters since the administration of Donald Trump withdrew in May 2018, …

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• 7 June

  One Down, Many More Challenges: The UK and Threats of African Terrorism

  

  The UK is shifting its counterterrorism capability to Africa. Yet while the threat picture in Africa appears to be worsening, it remains unclear how outwardly menacing it actually is. The key question Whitehall needs to ask is whether the new deployments to Mali and Somalia appropriately reflect the global terrorist …

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• 7 June

  The policy consequences of Arab state normalization with the Assad regime

  

  The recent push by a number of Arab states to normalize relations with the Assad regime is based on the false premise that the war is over and it is necessary to restore ties to lobby Damascus to change its relationship with Iran. Other regional dynamics are also a factor: …

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• 7 June

  The nascent Israeli government: The thread that binds?

  

  There is only one thread holding together the unprecedentedly disparate parties that will establish and support the nascent Israeli government announced on the night of June 2, an hour before the midnight deadline. That thread is, of course, a shared loathing for Benjamin (“Bibi”) Netanyahu, who has served an unprece­dented …

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• 7 June

  Brexit’s Finish Line Is Only the ‘End of the Beginning’ for Britain and the EU

  

  Britain’s impending departure from the European Union on Jan. 31 is merely, as Winston Churchill might have said, the end of the beginning. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will herald Brexit as the moment the nation recovers its sovereignty. The truth, however, is far messier. The ultimate terms and costs …

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• 7 June

  Brexit’s Ghosts Still Haunt Northern Ireland

  

  For more than a week earlier this month, Northern Ireland was rocked by riots in pro-British unionist communities, with frequent outbursts of violence in areas bordering on pro-Irish nationalist neighborhoods. Thankfully, no one was killed, but almost 90 police officers were injured in efforts to quell the unrest and keep …

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• 7 June

  Brexit Still Hasn’t Solved the Problem of Northern Ireland

  

  The two main political parties in Northern Ireland announced a deal last month to restore the region’s power-sharing government, which had ceased to function three years ago. Within 24 hours of the announcement of the deal on Jan. 10, which was brokered by the British and Irish governments, Northern Ireland’s …

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• 7 June

  In the Aftermath of Brexit, What Can ‘Global Britain’ Be?

  

  Over the past four years, as the United Kingdom has wrestled with the consequences of its narrow vote to leave the European Union, there has been little to no broader foreign policy debate in the country. Instead, Britons seem to have become caught between three temperaments. There are the catastrophists, …

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• 7 June

  The U.K.’s Incoherent China Strategy

  

  Earlier this month, the United Kingdom’s foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, delivered a speech in Parliament setting out measures to ensure that British businesses do not profit from what he called the “industrial scale” forced labor of minority Uighur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region. However, Raab’s remarks made no mention of …

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