Recommended by The Cosmopolitan Globalist
When it comes to finding and publishing essays that are of interest to Jews (or people with an interest in Jews), David Hazony is the best editor in the business.
Cristina Maza is the author of our "Cristina Maza's Reading List" feature, a national security and defense correspondent in Washington, and a great place to get caught up on what the media's reporting about the world on the days when we don't send out Global Eyes.
By far the best source of information on the war in Sudan--the most under-covered story in the world.
My friend Tim Mak used to be an NPR investigative correspondent in Ukraine. When NPR downsized, he decided Ukraine was too important to abandon. So he struck out on his own in Substack. A former US Army combat medic, he's been based in Kyiv since the onset of the full-scale war. He wants his readers to understand the stories of the real people whose lives make up the statistics and the headlines.
I stop strangers in the street and tell them, "If you want to understand what's happening in Israel, read 'State of Tel Aviv.'" Editor Vivian Bercovici is the former Canadian Ambassador to Israel. After that, she made Aliyah and now she lives in Tel Aviv. She's a great writer, she's extremely perceptive, and she seems to know everyone. She's also a great interviewer: Check out the podcasts.
Foreign policy for global development and international affairs insiders. They say: "Think of it as 'War on the Rocks' or 'The Hill' but for the UN-crowd and world news junkies of all stripes."
This is a terrific resource if you're interested in news and analysis about migration in the Western Hemisphere—"from Canada to Argentina, from Barbados to Mexico, and everything in between," in Jordi Amaral's words. It's extremely thorough.
Mick Ryan, a 35-year veteran of the Australian military, writes knowledgeably about technology, ideas, people, and their interaction in modern war, specifically in Ukraine, Taiwan, and the Indo-Pacific.
Of course we recommend him. From his about page: "We emphasize strong property rights, the rights of the individual, civil and economic liberties, international human rights obligations, strict adherence to the rule of law, and international trade rules." What's not to like?
Eamonn is extremely well-informed about Spanish and Catalan politics and Argentina, and he sometimes writes about the UK and Ireland, too. (About which he's also well-informed.) He's on the right side of the war for liberal democracy.
Former FBI agent Asha Rangappa writes about how the West's adversaries inject disinformation into our society and how to strengthen our democratic and social fabric against this. She calls this newsletter a “citizen’s academy” for democracy.
If you're interested in the academic literature on international relations, Dan Drezner (who teaches international politics at Tufts) presents it engagingly, which is more than can be said of the literature itself.
Latin America Daily Briefing is a daily dispatch of news from Latin America and the Caribbean: a mix of stories from the international and local press, as well as analysis from think tanks, academics and other commentators.
Everyone who follows Middle East politics reads Abu Aardvark. He was one of the first bloggers about the Middle East; he also built Foreign Policy's Middle East Channel, The Monkey Cage, the Project on Middle East Political Science, and the Middle East Political Science Podcast. This is his MENA newsletter, featuring his own commentary about the Middle East. He also reviews the best new academic publications about the region.
Monique Camarra's EuroFile is the most useful resource on Substack, by far, for people who want a detailed, daily update on the war in Ukraine and related events in Russia. I know you've already got a lot to read, but this is the one you *have* to read.
Nicolas Tenzer is an international security expert who has had a long career as a senior civil servant in France. He writes about strategy, international relations, security, information, and intelligence. But above all, he writes with passion and rare moral conviction about Russia and Ukraine.
Timothy Snyder is another writer who hardly needs our recommendation. He's one of the world's best-known historians of Central and Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and the Holocaust. But his newsletter, particularly its treatment of Ukraine, is invaluable. Don't miss his class on the history of Ukraine, which he taught at Yale. It's available in its entirety on YouTube. You'll learn an enormous amount from it.
Since I discovered this Substack it's been one of the first I read for news from Israel.
Old Turkey hands and professional journalists based in Turkey never miss an issue of this newsletter. There's also a Turkish-language version, in-depth reports, and a variety of news tracking tools available to subscribers. (And if you follow Turkish news obsessively, you'll take special delight in their clever headlines.)
Want to know whenever the US Navy does something especially dumb? CDR Salamander has your back. He's "an agent of change leveraging the littoral best practices for a paradigm breaking six-sigma best business case to synergize a consistent design in the global commons, rightsizing the core values supporting our mission statement on great power competition via the 5-vector model through cultural diversity." (And a great source of naval insight.)
James Dorsey should be better known. He's a terrific journalist who covers geopolitics, relations between the Middle East and Asia, big power rivalry and its impact on the Middle East and Eurasia, religious soft power rivalry, and the politics of sport. You'll learn a lot from him, guaranteed.
Adam Tooze hardly needs my recommendation, since he's the world's most famous economic historian, but I join the world in saying you'll find Chartbook interesting. It features his writing, statistics, charts, links, and book recommendations, and they're always interesting.
Symposium is Rob Tracinski's answer to the Cosmopolitan Globalist, except that it isn't globalist, since it's focused on the US. He's trying to answer some of the same questions we are, though: He invites writers, academics, and public figures to his symposium discuss the ailing state of political liberalism and what to do about it. (Claire's on one of his podcasts.)
Shane O'Mara is a neuroscientist, psychologist, and professor of experimental brain research at Trinity College, Dublin. He writes about topics of interest to us here, for example, the neurological basis of collective memory, imagined communities, and nationalism. Try it.
This is Edward Lucas's newsletter about the efforts of Russia and China to undermine the sovereignty and cohesion of the West; their tactics, strategy, and goals; and the strengths and weaknesses of our countermeasures. Unfortunately, Active Measures isn't very active--he doesn't post often--but when he does, it's worth it.
Louise Mensch, I'll grant you, is not totally reliable. But she's on side of all that is noble and good; she sometimes gets an amazing scoop; and she's also funny and likable. Even when she says something completely wacky, I'll entertain the idea that she could be right--because she actually has been, before.
The Bulwark doesn't need my recommendation, either--everyone knows who they are--but I'm recommending them anyway because they deserve it. I listen to Charlie's podcast every weeknight before I go to bed, which is how I get as caught up on the latest American insanity as I need to be to do my job without outright losing my mind. And I love the rest of them, too. *Also: If you haven't read Tim Miller's book--"Why We Did It"--you should. He's a gloriously talented writer.)
Hoaxlines is the newsletter of Novel Science, a larger project to combat media manipulation and disinformation. They focus on topics dear to my heart: Covid misinformation and anti-vaxxers; Russian efforts to misinform Americans about Ukraine. They're trying to develop policy recommendations and offer resources that "empower the public to confront information disorder." I wish them good luck.
Laura Rosen is an impressively plugged-in foreign policy journalist who's been the diplomatic correspondent for Al-Monitor and the foreign policy reporter for Politico and Foreign Policy magazine. I don't always agree with her, but I always read her. She's especially good on the details of Iranian nuclear diplomacy.
Gabi Mitchell, who has written for CG, is an Israeli PhD candidate in International Relations at Virginia Tech. He writes and shares his reading lists about Israel, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean, offering a view beyond the headlines. (He's also a tank driver and a great travel companion.)
Alas, Balkan Devlen hasn't updated this newsletter since 2022. It's a shame, because it was so interesting. He writes about foreign and security policy, great power politics, existential risk, and the best ways of preparing for the future--and he was deemed a Superforecaster in the US intelligence community geopolitical forecasting competition. I wish he'd write more!
This should be your go-to source for Asia news, analysis, and opinion on national and regional issues in Asia. It's an award-winning site that's widely read by CEOs, diplomats, and economists across the region. Contributors include not just journalists but specialists in finance, diplomacy, science, and the arts. They say they have "no ideology other than a belief in the benefits of a free media." I love them.
Dexter Roberts is my go-to source on China’s economy. He's a business journalist who lived in Beijing for more than two decades and reported from all of its 30-odd provinces and regions along with North Korea, Mongolia, and Cambodia. He's also the author of "The Myth of Chinese Capitalism," which The Economist ranked one of the best books of 2020.
Derek Davison studied US foreign policy and Islamic history, and on days we don't send out Global Eyes, you should check his excellent World News Roundup. (We always check it before sending out Global Eyes to be sure we didn't miss anything.)
"Launched in 2004 on “Blogspot,” Carpetblog, despite its extremely niche appeal, has outlasted most platforms. We clawed our way to becoming one of the most read English language blogs in the southern Caucasus. Then blogs went away. Facebook and Twitter are a useless pestilence. We’re being told email newsletters are The Next Big Thing. Trust that our interests are the same. Only the delivery mechanism has changed."
Jordan Schneider, a fellow at CNAS, writes about China, technology, and US-China relations--and does so very thoughtfully.
James Bosworth--Boz--writes about politics, economics, security, and technology in emerging markets. He's lived across Latin America in Chile, Nicaragua, Mexico and Colombia. He's the founder of Hxagon, a consulting firm that performs political risk analysis and bespoke investigations. He's also a Superforecaster with Good Judgment Inc. The Latin America Risk Report tracks elections and covers security, economic, and political issues throughout the region.