Daniel R. DePetris

What is causing the Russians to behave in such an aggressive manner?

It's past time for NATO to close the proverbial open door, not keep it open in perpetuity.

Any draft peace agreement, assuming one becomes viable, will ultimately be Ukraine's to accept or reject. The notion propagated by some that mischievous Americans are infringing on Ukraine's sovereignty is absurd.

Russian President Vladimir Putin knows he has a problem.

Historical baggage cannot be overlooked.

Modifications to the Security Council would require an amendment to the U.N. Charter.

The days when the U.S. can count on Saudi Arabia to be its eyes and ears in the region are over.

The U.S. and Iran have trapped themselves in a diplomatic maze with no exit point.

What path NATO chooses may ultimately determine Russia's reaction, and with it, the possibility of more violence in Europe.

China will be the elephant in the room.

Assuming Joe Biden and Xi Jinping are genuinely interested in putting U.S.-China relations on an even keel, they both have to get proactive.

The Ukrainians are setting the stage for an offensive with more frequent attacks inside Russian-occupied territory, not to mention inside Russia itself.

For U.N. skeptics, Russia's time in the spotlight is one more talking point for why the entire organization could use a massive overhaul or perhaps even a downsizing.

Countries outside the Western orbit are far less interested in Russia walking away from the war in disgrace than they are in stopping the war itself.

A Saudi-Houthi deal is still up in the air.

U.S. officials shouldn't brush off the Saudi entreaties to Beijing as nothingburgers.

The U.S. doesn't dislike autocracy across the board—it just dislikes autocrats who have drastically different objectives than our own or deliberately seek to undermine U.S. power.

Everyone recognizes that the Caribbean nation, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, is going through an especially violent, anarchic period in its history. But no one really knows what to do about it.

Arab-majority countries, including America's partners, aren't waiting for the U.S. to resume normal diplomatic relations with Syria. And they don't seem to care much about Washington's disapproval.

The hard decision to sacrifice Bakhmut will be terrible for Ukraine's morale. But it's probably the right call given the uncertain future and resource constraints Ukrainian officials are forced to handle.

Dialogue will need to be sustained, even as the politics of doing so get more difficult for both sides.

U.S. and NATO officials immediately denounced Putin for unilaterally suspending the most crucial bilateral U.S.-Russia arms control treaty on the books.

As more Russian troops pour into eastern Ukraine and more Russian jets are stationed closer to the Russia-Ukraine border in what is likely to be a renewed offensive on the eve of the war's one-year mark, Ukraine's partners in NATO were discussing how to accelerate shipments of ammunition and air defense systems to Kyiv.

What the Korean Peninsula needs above all else is more dialogue, not more weapons.

There is only one arms control accord keeping the U.S. and Russia from building as many nuclear weapons as it wants: the New START Treaty.

Diplomacy is dead at the moment.

We think of the Gulf War as an unquestioned success in U.S. military history. In terms of the mission set, this is a fair description.

The only prediction worth making is we don't know what's going to happen.

Russian President Vladimir Putin wants you to believe he can turn off the oil taps like he did with natural gas. The question, as ever, is whether he will run the risk of throwing a hand grenade into the global oil market at a time when Moscow needs all of the oil receipts it can get.

We should all get ready for renewed fighting into the new year.