Critical State

Soldiers line up before leaving to patrol the streets in Bogotá, Colombia, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2019. 

Use the force: Part II

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive this week into what happened when Colombia’s military took on police work in Cali, the country’s third-largest city.

Use the force: Part II
In this Jan. 20, 2017, file photo, residents walk through the destruction of the once rebel-held Salaheddine neighborhood in the eastern Aleppo, Syria. 

Rebel reliance: Part II

Rebel reliance: Part II
Democratic Republic of Congo Defense Forces gather in the North Kivu province village of Mukondi, Thursday March 9, 2023.

Rebel reliance: Part I

Rebel reliance: Part I
Nelson Mandela, left, and his wife Winnie, raise clenched fists as they walk hand-in-hand from the Victor Verster prison near Cape Town, South Africa on Feb. 11, 1990.

'Winnie and Nelson': A new book explores a fraught political partnership

'Winnie and Nelson': A new book explores a fraught political partnership
The downhill course stands out from the almost snowless landscape ahead of the first men's downhill training run at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 3, 2022, in the Yanqing district of Beijing. 

States at dawn: Part II

States at dawn: Part II
US paratroopers parachute at the Yavoriv training range in the western Lviv region, Ukraine, on Monday, July 17, 2000.

Winning the peace

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive this week into the history of Ukraine's fight for independence — through peacekeeping.

Winning the peace
Elephants in the Chobe National Park in Botswana on March 3, 2013. 

An elephant never forgets, sometimes sheds insight

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive this week into what the socialization patterns of elephants can teach us about human evolution.

An elephant never forgets, sometimes sheds insight
A student shows a piece of ceramic in the archaeological excavation near Salbitz, central Germany, on Friday, April 8, 2011.

States at dawn: Part I

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive this week into the pre-history of international relations.

States at dawn: Part I
Posters with a message that read in Spanish "Free abortion."

Founding fatherhood: Part II

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive this week into the decriminalization of abortion in Colombia, in the context of the country's legacy of war.

Founding fatherhood: Part II
In this Wednesday, June 29, 2011, photo, Henrik Holgersson puts a shoe on his son.

Founding fatherhood: Part I

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive this week into parental leave and caregiving in various affluent democracies between 1965 to 2016.

Founding fatherhood: Part I
President George W. Bush declares the end of major combat in Iraq as he speaks aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the California coast. But the war dragged on for many years after that.

Citizen pain: Part II

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive this week into how the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 not only dismantled the government but destroyed an entire nation, forcing a mass exodus of certain ethnic and religious minorities.

Citizen pain: Part II
All Assam Students Union (AASU) activists hold hands together as they form a human chain to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act on a road in Gauhati, India, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020. Critics say the bill threatens the secular fabric of India. 

Citizen pain: Part I

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive this week into how states determine citizenship, with a spotlight on Assam, India, as the case study.  

Citizen pain: Part I
World Congress of Families XI meeting, Budapest Congress Center, May 27, 2017, Budapest, Hungary.

Home front: Part II

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive this week into the World Congress of Families, an organization that has helped shape and share a reactionary agenda among conservatives across the globe.

Home front: Part II
American soldiers drive a Bradley fighting vehicle during a joint exercise with Syrian Democratic Forces at the countryside of Deir Ezzor in northeastern Syria, Dec. 8, 2021. 

Home front: Part I

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter, takes a deep dive this week into the ways in which US communities that most bear the costs of war are also more prone to right-wing radicalization.

Home front: Part I
French Barkhane force soldiers who wrapped up a four-month tour of duty in the Sahel board a US Air Force C130 transport plane, leave their base in Gao, Mali, Wednesday June 9, 2021.

Trust the process: Part II

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive this week into the function of ad-hoc organizations that are formed to address a specific crisis — and then often get dissolved when the crisis ends.

Trust the process: Part II