MADRID — In March 2018, Syrian President Bashar Assad had himself filmed as he drove his car through the rubble-filled streets of Eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus.

MADRID — Sadly, 2018 will not be remembered as a year of political and diplomatic success. Though the international order had already begun to erode in 2017, the global political environment became downright chaotic, combustible and hostile this year.

MADRID — Upon Albert Einstein’s death in 1955, the New York Times published a letter to the editor with a marvelous anecdote.

MADRID — The annual general debate of the United Nations General Assembly is one of the most notable events on the international diplomatic calendar.

MADRID — The annual NATO summit this month was the latest instalment in a long series of disagreements between US President Donald Trump and America’s European allies.

MADRID — After the recent G-7 summit in Quebec, therte can no longer be any doubt that the West is in crisis. Yes, “Western” countries have often pursued divergent foreign policies, as illustrated by the Iraq War, and “the West” is itself a vague concept.

AACHEN — With the decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), US President Donald Trump’s administration has demonstrated, yet again, that it is determined to destroy major global structures and agreement

MADRID — The opening line of Charles Dickens’s “A Tale of Two Cities” retains its universality to this day.

Few world regions are more culturally and politically complex than the Balkans.