Analysis is where longer arguments are made. Pieces trace a conflict, alliance, sanction regime or economic crisis back through the decisions and interests that produced it, then set out the range of outcomes still available. Sources and assumptions are stated. Written for readers who want causation rather than a summary of yesterday.
Long-form argument on international affairs, tracing a conflict, alliance or crisis back through the decisions and interests that produced it.
Sanctions look like declarations but work like bookkeeping: lists, licensing offices, and banks' own risk calculations decide who is actually excluded, and the deciding layer is rarely political.
Valentina Sokolov
A 2022 reform requires the General Assembly to meet within ten days of any Security Council veto. Four years and dozens of vetoes later, the record shows what that accountability tool can and cannot do.
Valentina Sokolov
Data-localization laws, adequacy decisions and platform rules are re-fencing the open internet — sovereignty arriving through the server room.
Valentina Sokolov
The NPT's five-yearly summits have produced final documents twice since 1995 — and the same three paragraphs keep breaking them.
Valentina Sokolov
Aging tankers, flag-of-convenience registries and switched-off transponders keep sanctioned oil moving — and the countermeasures are catching up.
Valentina Sokolov